Rising child care costs forcing some parents to quit or change jobs
The cost of child care is becoming so expensive that some Pennsylvania parents are quitting, turning down, or changing jobs to care for their children.
The average annual cost of infant center-based daycare in Pennsylvania is $11,842, or $987 per month. Here’s the problem: the average income of a household in Pennsylvania is $86,142, which means that the average family spends around 13.7% of their household income to support their child care.
But according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, child care should take up no more than 7% of a family’s income in order to be considered affordable.
Families with more than one child face an even larger burden. Child care for a 4-year-old costs $9,773, meaning a typical family in Pennsylvania would have to spend 31.9% of its income on child care for an infant and a 4-year-old, according to research from the Economic Policy Institute.
As of September, the average household spent more than $700 a month on child care, up 32% from 2019, and the cost is pushing families to the breaking point, according to a June report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Rising child care costs disproportionately impact single working women, parents in poverty, families of color, and and immigrant families.
Women are five to eight times more likely than men to experience negative employment consequences related to caregiving, according to the foundation’s report.
A new database from the U.S. Department of Labor shows child care prices and the cost of child care as a proportion of median income in every Pennsylvania county, as well as all counties in most U.S. states.
The maps show that in nearly every county, child care prices were high relative to family income, pricing some families out of paid child care.
According to the Casey Foundation report, 13% of children under the age of 5 lived in families in which someone quit, changed or refused a job because of problems with child care.
“A good child care system is essential for kids to thrive, and our economy to prosper. But our current approach fails kids, parents and child care workers by every measure,” said Lisa Hamilton, president and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. “Without safe child care they can afford and get to, working parents face impossible choices, affecting not only their families but their employers as well.”
In its database of child care prices, the Department of Labor noted that even though child care is expensive, child care providers operate on thin margins and child care workers receive a median of $13.22 an hour.
While the cost of care burdens families, the salary of child care workers is less than 98% of professions and falls below the living wage in most states.
Low pay in the child care sector means that employers cannot attract sufficient workers and many areas are considered child care deserts, leaving families with limited options.
According to the Casey Foundation report, “The failings of the child care market also affect the health of the American economy, costing $122 billion a year in lost earnings, productivity and tax revenue, according to one study. All of these challenges put parents under tremendous stress to meet the dual responsibilities of providing for their families and ensuring their children are safe and nurtured.”
The report also found:
- More than 60% of child care workers reported having difficulty paying their own food and utility bills in the most recent month.
- Infant child care is so expensive that one analysis indicates it costs more than in-state college tuition in 34 states and Washington, D.C.
- The main federal mechanism for subsidizing care, the Child Care and Development Block Grant, partially offsets costs for only 1.3 million of the more than 12 million kids in child care. Of children eligible for subsidies under federal rules, only 1 in 6 receives them.
The report offers several suggestions, including that federal, state and local governments should invest more in child care, and state and local governments should maximize remaining pandemic recovery act dollars to fund needed child care services and capacity.