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Thursday, January 18th, 2018

How America’s ‘childcare deserts’ are driving women out of the workforce

Author:     Molly Redden
Source:     The Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     Wed 17 Jan 2018 02.00 EST
Link: How America’s ‘childcare deserts’ are driving women out of the workforce
Stephan:   I think it is time we asked this question: Why does America as a matter of social policy not love or care about the wellbeing of children? This is not a question that can be disputed, the social outcome data on children, childcare, and families is so awful that the U.S. is the worst or almost the worst in virtually every category of social data compared with other developed nations. This piece also shows why a comprehensive social network must be established, doing things piece-meal, never works. Note also this is a report in the British press.

A minimum wage increase in Washington state added to parents’ struggle to afford childcare.
Credit: Niall Carson/PA

Not long after the 2016 election, Shelby McGowan got a somber phone call from her brother.

“I’m so sorry,” he said.

She replied: “About what?”

“About your childcare expenses.”

Just a few weeks earlier, Washington state voters had approved a statewide ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage to $13.50 over four years. The measure was supported by voters who pictured a better quality of life for thousands of retail and food service workers. But few considered the economics of the daycare industry, which pays some of the lowest wages of any industry. Tuition at Advent Lutheran Child Center, the Spokane Valley daycare center where McGowan’s two children were enrolled, was about to go up by as much as $300 a month per family.

And just like that, the entire state became the laboratory for a real-time experiment in the consequences of rising daycare costs. Washington state is a dramatic case, but not a total outlier. The cost of childcare and the […]

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