In 10 days, the U.S. will fall off a “child care cliff” — that’s the day pandemic-era funding for the industry runs out.
Why it matters: The funding amounted to a $24 billion Band-aid patched over an industry that’s long struggled. When the bandage comes off, the state of child care in the U.S. is likely to be even worse than it was before 2020.
It’s too fucking expensive to be reasonable. $20k a year for fucking childcare. That’s almost $10/hr wage. Tons of jobs around here don’t even make that much. Realistically you need to make even more because there’s taxes coming out of the $10/hr. Anything less and you’re better off just not working at all. Then you need to calculate your bills. If you need to pay rent, utilities, gas, car payment, etc you need to be making $25-$30/hr to get by. Realistically a single mother isn’t making it on her own and it’s disgusting.
Not to mention that $20k doesn’t get you jack shit. We still need to supply food, diapers, drinks, and even a fucking pack and play for her to nap in as well as a fucking high chair. All that $20k gets you is a couple people sitting in a room with 20 other kids letting them all do their own thing.
Fuck childcare
This isn’t even a new problem. I used to work in an office with a lot of women back in 2006. One decided to have a kid and after she and her husband did the math, it was more economical for her to quit to take care of the child than for her to keep working. Other women had to have family members provide childcare so they could get by because without their salary they’d be screwed or they were single mothers.