The cost of child care in the United States has risen nearly twice the rate of inflation over the past few decades, according to a new report from accounting firm KPMG.
A KPMG report released Tuesday said child care costs have increased 263 percent between 1990 and April of this year. Over the same period, the Consumer Price Index, a measure used to measure inflation, rose 133 percent.
“A child care crisis that was simmering even before the pandemic has boiled over,” the researchers say. The report stated.
“This is really an issue that parents are stuck on right now, arguably the largest generation of 30-somethings ever,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG. He said in an interview with Marketplace..
“Every day, 12,000 millennials turn 35 and they’re struggling to pay for child care. The government is saying they should cover about 7 percent of income towards child care,” Swonk added.
Women with young children have lower labor force participation rates than other women. According to a KPMG survey:The labor force participation rate for mothers with children under 6 was 69 percent last year, compared with 95 percent for fathers of the same age.
The labor force participation rate for women with children ages 6 to 17 was 78 percent, compared with 92 percent for men.
According to the Consumer Price Index released in February, childcare fees rose 3% between December 2022 and December last year. In the same period, kindergarten and nursery school costs rose 4.5%.
