Opinion | How to lower child care costs - The Washington Post

As a parent of three children under the age of 5, I empathize with Sen. Ruben Gallego. The Arizona Democrat posted on X last week about securing a spot at a local day care center for his daughter, only to find that it’s more expensive than tuition at Arizona State University. My wife and I, two professionals in a major metropolitan area, are facing the same crunch; we’re paying more than $5,000 for child care each month. When I look at that price tag as a father and household budgeter, I can’t help thinking, “The cost of child care is too damn high.” But when I think like an economist, I understand why. Child care is expensive because it is labor-intensive. In a modern economy, personalized human attention — the loving care parents want for their kids — is scarce. Follow Personal finance While goods production continues to rise in efficiency as an economy advances, human services tend not to — child care chief among them. In other words, child care doesn’t scale. In part, that’s becaus

As a parent of three children under the age of 5, I empathize with Sen. Ruben Gallego. The Arizona Democrat posted on X last week about securing a spot at a local day care center for his daughter, only to find that it’s more expensive than tuition at Arizona State University. My wife and I, two professionals in a major metropolitan area, are facing the same crunch; we’re paying more than $5,000 for child care each month. When I look at that price tag as a father and household budgeter, I can’t help thinking, “The cost of child care is too damn high.” But when I think like an economist, I under