The cost of child care has risen so high in recent years that some parents can’t afford to work.
As of September, the average household spent more than $700 a month on child care, up 32% from 2019, according to a recent report from the Bank of America Institute. The sharply higher costs are driving some parents to leave the workforce in order to look after their children.
At the same time, many families laying out for child care are having to tap their savings while down on spending, potentially weighing on economic growth, BofA noted.
“While our data only captures payrolls deposited into Bank of America accounts and might not paint the full picture, we think the [spending] decline still points to the possibility of some working parents leaving the workforce as child care prices rise rapidly,” the report states.
Child care costs refer to the out-of-pocket expenses parents pay for their child to attend daycare or to hire a babysitter or nanny. The costs typically fall or disappear once a child enters preschool or kindergarten around ages 3 or 5.
Read more at CBSnews.com
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