The Ridiculous Cost of Childcare in America
The cost of childcare is so high that is making the poverty level in the country increase drastically. The average yearly cost to take and infant to childcare is a little over $10,000. (Blau, 2019). How is the average American supposed to be able to pay for that? Minimum wage has been bumped up to $12 an hour, which is barely a livable wage without children to take care of. The cost of childcare in the United States is unaffordable for most people, there needs to be a more affordable option for people to be sure that their children are provided quality care at an affordable price.
The average household in America brings home about $55,000 a year. When paying for childcare of up to $10,000 a year, that family is paying 20% of their yearly income. That is a huge percentage when you are trying to make ends meet. This also does not take into consideration if the family has more that one child. The most expensive states in the country are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, and Washington at over $14,000 a year for one infant. (Ceder, 2020.) The average household used to be 2.5 children; this number has gone in the last few year. Making it 1.93 children per household. Even with the number dropping, that makes it, so the average family is spending nearly $20,000 a year on childcare alone. (Chmurak,2018). In some case, it would be cheaper for a parent to put their child through college. The average tuition for one year in a community college is $3,347, and for a four-year institution it is $9,139. (Zach, 2019). This is unacceptable. People are not able to live comfortably and be successful when paying out that amount of money for childcare.
The number of people that use childcare services everyday is about 4.8 million children, that many kids are taken to preschool or a childcare facility every day. That number might be lower currently due the COVID-19 pandemic, however there are still lots of people that having to go to work every day. (Cautero, 2020). The childcare industry is big business. However, if people cannot afford to use their services they are going to find other means to take care of their children. My first job was working at a daycare. I was 17 years old, still in high school withy zero experience working with kids. I was shocked to find out that there was little to no training. I basically had to "wing it". I started out working in the infant room, where I was lucky enough to work with an older lady that was more than willing to teach me what I needed to know. From there I became the teacher for the 3-year-old children. I was thrown in a room with 20 kids that looked to me to teach them. After working there for about 4 years I decided it was time to move on, I also decided that I never wanted to put my kids in daycare. Unfortunately, that did not go as planned. I think that with the number of people that are needed daycare services in this country there must be a better solution that subpar care for our children and ridiculously high prices. However, the industry knows that people need the service, and they are going to benefit from it.
Currently in the United States the only assistance that you can get to help with the cost of childcare is through DES, The Department of Economic Security. After jumping through all the hoops that they ask you too, many find that they end up making too much money and are denied for assistance. Expanding childcare assistance programs would be beneficial to the country. By changing the requirements that must be met you would increase the amount of people that are able to get help. I think that the country should consider universal childcare. There are several countries that have implemented universal childcare. France, Sweden, Norway, and Canada have all begun using universal childcare. This makes it affordable for citizens and the childcare industry is not able to take advantage of those in need. In Norway they say a significant increase in the employment rate. (McGrew, 2018). Parents were able to get the assistance necessary to go out and work and not have to worry about care for their children. This could greatly help the economy in America. There are already many people in the workforce in America, however, if that number increased it would only help. If policy makers are not interested in universal childcare, they need to seriously investigate childcare reform.
Children are the future of our country and they need to be taught and molded. Daycare is beneficial to children, giving them the building blocks, they need to be successful later in life and teaching them how to socialize. Parents benefit from this as well, giving them the assistance, they need to be able to go to work everyday and not be concerned about their children.
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