It’s hard for a lot of women to figure out which childcare options will work best for their family and spending budget.
For example, Nicole Slemp has been having a hard time getting cheap child care. She had several low-paying jobs before she found one she liked. However, the cost of child care for her to work almost made it not worth it. She found that the cheapest choices for childcare cost about $1,500 a month, and the most expensive ones cost about $2,000 a month.
She told them that she and her husband made too much money together to get any help from the government, and they were thinking about their choices. She didn’t want to quit her job, but Slemp felt like she had no choice.
People all over the United States have had this problem because good babysitting is very expensive. On top of that, it’s hard to find babysitting because most of the time there are waitlists that go on for months.
According to data from 2022, one in ten young children had a parent who had to quit or greatly alter their job because of having to care for the kid. Taking care of kids usually means that moms have to change things or cancel plans.
Also, the job gap between women with and without a four-year degree keeps growing.
This problem affects families all over the country because there aren’t many choices for childcare. If a parent can’t find childcare, they often have to take time off work or even quit their job.
Jessica Calarco, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, said, “The stay-at-home moms in this country are mostly mothers who have been forced to quit their jobs because they don’t make enough money to pay for child care.” According to her study, seventy-five percent of stay-at-home moms live in homes where the income is less than $50,000.
