The easiest way to get people back to the office? Free childcare

AMANDA KAVANGH | THIS COLUMN WAS CREATED BY JOBBIO
Fri, 1 December 2023 



Childcare is currently so expensive that parents are dropping out of the workforce.

According to the most recent stats from the Census Bureau, the mean amount spent on childcare in the seven days prior to the research was $325.39.

Multiply this by 52 and you get $16,920 as a mean annual sum, while for those with a Bachelor’s degree or higher, the mean sum was higher at $377.77, which adds up to $19,644 annually.


The stats drill down further to look at the mean amount spent on childcare compared to household income.

While those earning less than $25,000 spent on average $296 in the previous seven days on childcare, this figure remains around the same right up to the $100,000-$149,999 pay bracket.

Clearly lower income households are feeling the most squeeze, with the lowest bracket spending 62% of their salary on childcare.

Comparatively, workers in the $50,000-$74,999 band pay 28% to 19%, the $75,000-$99,999 cohort pay 22% to 15%, and the $100,000-$149,999 group pay 14% to 10%.

Childcare costs cited increase after these groupings. For households with an income of $150,000-$199,999, costs for the last seven days was $335 (between 8% to 12% of annual salary), and this rises to $467 for households earning $200,000 and above (12% of annual salary).

Meanwhile, according to a national representative survey of 2,091 U.S. adults, 48% of parents of children under five-years old would consider being a stay-at-home parent if childcare accounted for a quarter of their salary.