Excerpts
Massachusetts is the state with the highest child care costs in the country, according to new data from the North Carolina law office DeMayo Law.
The new data highlights which states have some of the highest and lowest child care costs nationwide, and how much of Americans' income in those states is contributed to center-based care.
Why It Matters
The affordability of child care is a growing issue confronting Americans, and can be a factor that causes some to push back having children.
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The average annual cost for child care in Massachusetts is $18,380, while the median annual income is $60,690, and infants in Massachusetts cost the most in the country with parents paying an average of $23,191 annually, which is 38.21 percent of the state's median income.
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David Blau, a labor and population economist at Ohio State University, told Newsweek: "The wage rate of child care workers is the single most important determinant of the cost of child care, because it is a labor-intensive sector. High-wage states such as Massachusetts and New York have high child care wages as well, and conversely for low-wage states such as Missouri and South Dakota."
Mildred Warner, a professor of city and regional planning, and global development at Cornell University, told Newsweek: "The U.S. fully subsidizes education from kindergarten to grade 12, but not early education. Most of the early education (birth to five) is paid by parents—even though early education is most critical for brain development. Most countries around the world provide public school from age 3, and large subsidies for 0 to age 3 early care and education. The U.S. needs to do more, as early care and education is critical—for child development, for parents to be able to work, and for our society’s future."
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