The good news - if there is any - is that $20K per year is a temporary expense until you're ready to send the kid off to school. (I'm assuming public school here.) I was the stay-at-home dad for much of my kid's pre-K years. We sent him off to part-time care for A) socialization and B) so I could have some semblance of a career on the other side of it. But the money I was making freelancing on a PT basis barely covered the care, if that. It was a temporary investment in his development and my own viability.
How temporary that is depends on how many kids you have, I suppose.
You are spot on that daycare costs (5-yr old and below) are what they are due to state/city-regulated teacher-student ratios usually around 1:4 - 1:6. Usually a head teacher makes $20-$30/hr, but the assistant teachers/helpers are closer to minimum wage... the mean is definitely close to the math you laid out (though I don't know if the teachers who make minimum wage are getting paid holidays and insurance...). And totally agree that just going from a ratio of 1:4 to 1:5 is a HUGE JUMP in causing more disruptions for the teaching and classroom -- the biggest complaint of parents in my child's daycare is that there aren't enough teachers. There are usually 2-3 administrators too, who are paid more than the head teacher.
Another big reason for high costs (not including aftercare costs and other supplementary costs) is that RENT can be very high for daycare in high-cost areas. I know the Gothamists' #s are for childcare in a year, but for DAYCARE in the NYC area (I live across the river from Manhattan), I am paying $3,000/month for 1 child. (I'm assuming it's close to $4,000+/month in Manhattan, at the very least.) I don't think the daycare is banking it with high margins, and I think rent is the highest cost factor.
Then there's summer camp -- for a 4-week summer camp that's 5-days a week (8:30 am - 5:00 pm), it's $1,250/week.
I have family in San Diego, and they are paying $2,200/month for daycare. The summer camp options are much cheaper there, though...like $600/week.
Excellent analysis. I'm troubled by the entitlement I hear in calls for "universal daycare", and how it's framed as a requirement for female empowerment / feminism. The majority of daycare workers are grossly underpaid, as you note, but they are also disproportionately likely to be immigrants from poorer countries. It strikes me as deeply screwed up to out-source caring for your children on less privileged and exploited women ... I realize it's not financially feasible in many cases for families to have a stay at home parent, I'm lucky to have been able to make that choice, so not trying to "shame" anyone, just lamenting the situation. Studies find a majority of mothers would choose not to work or only work part-time when they have young children, if they could afford to. If a government investment were to go anywhere, I wish it would go to helping mothers (or fathers) be able to afford to stay home with their children.
Glad this popped up in my feed so I could follow you here! I read your review of Abigail Shrier's "Bad Therapy" a while ago and was relieved that SOMEONE ELSE noticed how sloppy, misleading, and questionable many of the citations and research were in that book. (I also wrote a review pointing this stuff out, and other problems, and mentioned yours in mine a couple of times -- https://thecassandracomplex.substack.com/p/bad-journalism).
The good news - if there is any - is that $20K per year is a temporary expense until you're ready to send the kid off to school. (I'm assuming public school here.) I was the stay-at-home dad for much of my kid's pre-K years. We sent him off to part-time care for A) socialization and B) so I could have some semblance of a career on the other side of it. But the money I was making freelancing on a PT basis barely covered the care, if that. It was a temporary investment in his development and my own viability.
How temporary that is depends on how many kids you have, I suppose.
You are spot on that daycare costs (5-yr old and below) are what they are due to state/city-regulated teacher-student ratios usually around 1:4 - 1:6. Usually a head teacher makes $20-$30/hr, but the assistant teachers/helpers are closer to minimum wage... the mean is definitely close to the math you laid out (though I don't know if the teachers who make minimum wage are getting paid holidays and insurance...). And totally agree that just going from a ratio of 1:4 to 1:5 is a HUGE JUMP in causing more disruptions for the teaching and classroom -- the biggest complaint of parents in my child's daycare is that there aren't enough teachers. There are usually 2-3 administrators too, who are paid more than the head teacher.
Another big reason for high costs (not including aftercare costs and other supplementary costs) is that RENT can be very high for daycare in high-cost areas. I know the Gothamists' #s are for childcare in a year, but for DAYCARE in the NYC area (I live across the river from Manhattan), I am paying $3,000/month for 1 child. (I'm assuming it's close to $4,000+/month in Manhattan, at the very least.) I don't think the daycare is banking it with high margins, and I think rent is the highest cost factor.
Then there's summer camp -- for a 4-week summer camp that's 5-days a week (8:30 am - 5:00 pm), it's $1,250/week.
I have family in San Diego, and they are paying $2,200/month for daycare. The summer camp options are much cheaper there, though...like $600/week.
I loved Apostles of Reason. What do you mean by "pastoral authority"? I may be able to help you out.
Excellent analysis. I'm troubled by the entitlement I hear in calls for "universal daycare", and how it's framed as a requirement for female empowerment / feminism. The majority of daycare workers are grossly underpaid, as you note, but they are also disproportionately likely to be immigrants from poorer countries. It strikes me as deeply screwed up to out-source caring for your children on less privileged and exploited women ... I realize it's not financially feasible in many cases for families to have a stay at home parent, I'm lucky to have been able to make that choice, so not trying to "shame" anyone, just lamenting the situation. Studies find a majority of mothers would choose not to work or only work part-time when they have young children, if they could afford to. If a government investment were to go anywhere, I wish it would go to helping mothers (or fathers) be able to afford to stay home with their children.
If you haven't read it already, you might find this essay by Laura Wiley Haynes on the negative impact of daycare on babies / toddlers interesting -- https://wesleyyang.substack.com/p/universal-early-childhood-daycare. Erica Komisar also has good work on this.
Glad this popped up in my feed so I could follow you here! I read your review of Abigail Shrier's "Bad Therapy" a while ago and was relieved that SOMEONE ELSE noticed how sloppy, misleading, and questionable many of the citations and research were in that book. (I also wrote a review pointing this stuff out, and other problems, and mentioned yours in mine a couple of times -- https://thecassandracomplex.substack.com/p/bad-journalism).