Even outside of places like NYC the cost of childcare is bonkers. Like obviously the city has it bad but even that “cheap” quote that is a weight off that woman’s shoulders is kind of bonkers when you think about it. 50 a day would be $250 a week. That’s about $13,000 a YEAR. And its all well and good when we’re talking about someone making $200k with their dream midtown job(and they dont even mention if she’s married and if so what they make) but like low cost areas have lower wages to boot.
So sure if you’re making 280-300k+ a year that sounds generous, but suddenly when you’re making 50k, 60, hell even 90k. After taxes, healthcare, groceries, rent/mortgage, utilities, car payments(cause you cant get away with living without a car in most of the country outside NYC) and you’re barely breaking even IF you’re breaking even at all.
That doesnt even count emergencies. Car breaking down, medical bills, home repairs , and etc. We need universal childcare and we needed it yesterday!
I can’t seem to shake the feeling that child care is in an economic death spiral right now.
If a child care facility follows NAEYC standards by having 2 teachers for 8 infants, there’s no way around the fact that the revenue per child needs to cover 1/4 of the cost of a teacher’s salary after all other expenses (rent, insurance, utilities, administrative overhead, supplies). If the costs attributable to that class is at $4000/month, and the teacher salaries (including taxes, insurance, retirement, PTO, paid holidays, etc.) are $4000/month, that’s a total of $12k/month to split between 8 infants: $1500/month at minimum, or $2000/month for a minimal buffer/reserve against emergencies, vacancies, etc.
Meanwhile, the actual workers can’t even afford to pay for that child care on their own salaries taking home $3000/month (cost to employer $4000/month), so they end up exiting the career when they have kids of their own, or their child care facility gives up a revenue spot as a perk for retaining workers (requiring a higher charge for all the other kids attending).
If the economics are unsustainable for the parents and for the workers, how can this industry avoid turning into a luxury service only for the rich?
This is why we need public childcare. Much like public transit and other tax funded goods it is something that services a greater societal and economic good, but is a huge burden on the non wealthy. The individual system we currently have doesnt work when businesses are trying to make a profit and when money is spread around like it is.
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Even outside of places like NYC the cost of childcare is bonkers. Like obviously the city has it bad but even that “cheap” quote that is a weight off that woman’s shoulders is kind of bonkers when you think about it. 50 a day would be $250 a week. That’s about $13,000 a YEAR. And its all well and good when we’re talking about someone making $200k with their dream midtown job(and they dont even mention if she’s married and if so what they make) but like low cost areas have lower wages to boot.
So sure if you’re making 280-300k+ a year that sounds generous, but suddenly when you’re making 50k, 60, hell even 90k. After taxes, healthcare, groceries, rent/mortgage, utilities, car payments(cause you cant get away with living without a car in most of the country outside NYC) and you’re barely breaking even IF you’re breaking even at all.
That doesnt even count emergencies. Car breaking down, medical bills, home repairs , and etc. We need universal childcare and we needed it yesterday!
I can’t seem to shake the feeling that child care is in an economic death spiral right now.
If a child care facility follows NAEYC standards by having 2 teachers for 8 infants, there’s no way around the fact that the revenue per child needs to cover 1/4 of the cost of a teacher’s salary after all other expenses (rent, insurance, utilities, administrative overhead, supplies). If the costs attributable to that class is at $4000/month, and the teacher salaries (including taxes, insurance, retirement, PTO, paid holidays, etc.) are $4000/month, that’s a total of $12k/month to split between 8 infants: $1500/month at minimum, or $2000/month for a minimal buffer/reserve against emergencies, vacancies, etc.
Meanwhile, the actual workers can’t even afford to pay for that child care on their own salaries taking home $3000/month (cost to employer $4000/month), so they end up exiting the career when they have kids of their own, or their child care facility gives up a revenue spot as a perk for retaining workers (requiring a higher charge for all the other kids attending).
If the economics are unsustainable for the parents and for the workers, how can this industry avoid turning into a luxury service only for the rich?
This is why we need public childcare. Much like public transit and other tax funded goods it is something that services a greater societal and economic good, but is a huge burden on the non wealthy. The individual system we currently have doesnt work when businesses are trying to make a profit and when money is spread around like it is.