How the True Cost of Childcare Burdens Families, Providers and the Economy

Parents of young kids in California often find that childcare is not only expensive, but also hard to secure and even more so for low-income families. The cost of childcare eats up between 8 and 19 percent of family household income, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. While high costs and lack of availability have been problems for decades, the pandemic made it worse. Numerous childcare centers across California closed permanently in the past few years, even though demand has remained constant. We’ll talk about why childcare is so expensive and efforts at the state level to bring down the costs for families and improve working conditions for providers.