Dr. Taryn Morrissey: Childcare costs
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Childcare costs have been rising for years, and recent data show that families are spending 30% more on it than in 2019—outpacing inflation over that period.
On March 25, 2024, SciLine interviewed: Dr. Taryn Morrissey, a professor of public administration and policy at American University. See the footage and transcript from the interview below, or select ‘Contents’ on the left to skip to specific questions.
Declared interests:
Dr. Morrissey previously served as a health policy advisor on staff in the U.S. Senate and Department of Health and Human Services. She’s currently a senior advisor with the Office of Head Start at HHS.
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Introduction
[0:00:19]
TARYN MORRISSEY: My name is Taryn Morrissey. I’m a professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C., and I study the effects of public policies on children and families.
Interview with SciLine
What can you tell us about the cost of childcare?
[0:00:37]
TARYN MORRISSEY: The Department of Labor has published a childcare prices database, which shows that childcare varies across the country—it’s by county, but everywhere, it’s a significant expense for families with children. Adjusted for inflation, childcare per child per year is about $6,000 to $19,000 in 2024 dollars, but these figures are even higher for infant child care, which can be northwards of nearly $29,000.
Why is childcare so expensive?
[0:01:16]
TARYN MORRISSEY: Childcare is so expensive because it’s heavily dependent on labor. Nearly 70 cents of every dollar that parents spend on childcare goes to labor expenses, whether it’s salaries and benefits for childcare workers. And this is because the quality of childcare is heavily dependent on that relationship. And that consistency in responsiveness between the adult and child, there’s not the economies of scale that you might get at a college—for example, you don’t have 100 infants in a lecture hall with one adult—you need few infants per adult. And so, because of that, you have high labor expenses, and it’s difficult to reduce them without really affecting quality.
Why has the cost of childcare become such a major issue in recent years?
[0:02:11]
TARYN MORRISSEY: It’s been expensive for decades, but with mothers and women entering the workforce more so over the past few decades, the demand for childcare has increased, and so the use of childcare is increased. And I think more people are understanding how expensive it is. And it’s a relatively brief period of time when families have these childcare expenses when their children are young. And after care or summer care expenses can be pretty high but are still much less than early care and education expenses. But a growing proportion of the population understands the constraints that young families are facing.
What can you tell us about the federal Child Care Stabilization Grants that expired in 2023?
[0:02:54]
TARYN MORRISSEY: The Child Care Stabilization Grants that were funded through the American Rescue Plan—which passed in March of 2021—were vital for the child care industry and really key to so many programs keeping their doors open. We know that programs spent those dollars on payroll, on rent, on basic operating expenses and were able to keep their workforce employed, for example, and kind of bridge that the gap or the difficult times through the pandemic and following. Unfortunately, those difficult times are still happening for many childcare programs and workforce shortages and increasing expenses. But as you said, the childcare stabilization grants expired in September of 2023. And we don’t know yet, in terms of quantitative data, how that’s affected the industry. Anecdotally we hear of programs closing, sometimes quite surprisingly, for families unexpectedly, which really leaves them in a lurch.
What can you tell us about the relationship between childcare and parents’ participation in the workforce?
[0:04:05]
TARYN MORRISSEY: I see childcare as infrastructure, just like reliable, affordable transportation to get to work or affordable internet in the age of hybrid work. We need affordable childcare. Unfortunately, affordable childcare is hard to find, increasingly hard to find. And it affects maternal labor force participation in particular. So, about a 10% decrease in the cost of childcare increases maternal labor force participation by about a quarter of a percent to about two and a half percent. That’s from a recent review I did in 2017 of the literature. So, if we decrease parents childcare expenses, we could increase parents labor force participation.
How is the United States as a whole doing when it comes to funding childcare?
[0:05:00]
TARYN MORRISSEY: The U.S. is an outlier, and among its peer nations, is spending a very small proportion of our GDP on early care and education. In many of our peer nations, children begin public schooling at age three or four and before then have heavily subsidized income-based childcare arrangements. We, in this country, children become public goods at age five, and we pool our resources in terms of taxes to guarantee all children from ages five to about 18 a public education. But before age five, they’re considered a private responsibility. And I would argue it’s backwards because children’s development is so rapid in the first five years of life, especially the first three years of life. And we know that childcare is most expensive at that time, and yet we’re investing the least when it matters the most.
How are individual states doing when it comes to funding childcare?
[0:06:00]
TARYN MORRISSEY: I live in the District of Columbia, and D.C. has been a leader in the early childhood space for quite a while now. In 2010, we created a universal preschool program. And so, my children entered the public school system at age three, whereas in most parts of the country, they would have at age five. There are other states, most other states have public preschool, but very few of them have universal systems where all children can participate regardless of risk status or income. And there are other states that are investing in affordable childcare. There are about 12 states now and D.C. that have paid family leave programs that help families with newborns. But childcare from infancy really to age three is the most expensive for families, and then also for public cities and states. And so, we need more federal investment in those years to really move the needle in terms of making childcare affordable.
What can you tell us about the economic situation for childcare workers?
[0:07:06]
TARYN MORRISSEY: Our childcare system is subsidized by low wages and few benefits of the workforce. We have a workforce in early childhood that is disproportionately women of color, and they are paid on average low wages. In May of 2022, it’s about $14 an hour, and for a family of four, that person working full-time that would put them under the poverty level. Many workers don’t have health insurance, and yet we’ve seen in our recent pandemic are exposed to COVID-19 as well as all of the other germs and young children bring with them and share, so we really need to invest in the workforce. It’s an equity issue as well as an economic issue.
