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What happens when parents leave the workforce because they cannot afford child care?
The annual cost of a child care center for a typical American family with an infant and a four-year-old is nearly $18,000. As a result, many parents face the untenable choice between spending an average of nearly 30 percent of their paycheck on child care or leaving the workforce altogether.
There needs to be a better option.
A recent poll found that three-quarters of mothers and half of fathers have either left the workforce or switched to a less demanding job in order to care for their children.
When parents leave the workforce, they lose much more than just their annual salary; the cost of this decision follows them for life. After taking into account the potential wage growth and lost retirement savings over time, a parent who leaves the workforce loses up to four times their annual salary per year.
The nation needs a major national solution to put child care within reach for working families. To learn more about how you can get involved in the fight to make child care affordable for working families go to www.withinreachcampaign.org.
Input your information on the left to learn how much the failing child care system in the United States could cost you.
Press to input your information and learn how much the failing child care system in the United States could cost you.
You lose out on far more than just your annual salary when you leave the workforce to care for your children.
Here’s what your potential income over your lifetime could have been if you didn’t have to leave the workforce because child care is too expensive.