For decades, activists and lawmakers have tried to change the way child care works in the U.S. But they haven’t had much success. More recently, a fight has been brewing at the local level. This Tuesday, several places around the country will vote on whether to subsidize childcare. WSJ’s Harriet Torry explains what that could mean for one county in Texas. Further Reading: -Are American Taxpayers Ready to Foot the Bill for Child Care? -Child Care, Rent, Insurance: Where Inflation Hits Hardest Now Further Listening: -How Employer-Funded Child Care Can Work Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Here in the U.S., if you have children, or even if you don't, you probably know that daycare is really expensive.
How on earth are y'all affording daycare? I had somebody tell me $550 a week for a kid. Are you insane?
daycare is so high right now that me and my husband had to make the decision to take my son out of daycare for the summer if you add in my third it's going to come to about 6800 a month for daycare that's only from nine to two a day i need the freaking raise and a big one to be able to afford this how would you describe the state of early child care in the u.s right now
Well, one of the people who I spoke to described childcare as a broken business model because childcare is extremely expensive for parents to pay. At the same time, childcare does not make a lot of money. And the reason for that is because it is so labor intensive and they have to pay staff. You know, you can't get an algorithm to put a toddler down for a nap or change a diaper remotely.
You need people to be in person. My name is Harriet Torrey and I cover the U.S. economy. So why are you writing about child care? I think it's an overlooked aspect of the U.S. economy because so many people struggle with child care. This is not something new that the economy is suddenly facing. And this is something that really underpins the U.S. economy in so many ways.
People need reliable child care in order to participate in the labor force.
For decades, there have been attempts to change the way childcare works in the U.S. Activists have called for reforms, and there have been bills introduced in Congress. But it's still really hard to find affordable childcare. So more recently, some community groups and lawmakers have taken the fight to the state and local level.
In this year's election, several places around the country have childcare measures on the ballot. And one of those places is in Texas.
This November, it will be up to Travis County voters to decide whether or not to approve a proposal aimed at making childcare more affordable.
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