I'm from Québec (Canada) - we have universal child care 0-5. Yes, access needs to be improved. Yes, it's a mixed public/private with tax credits system. Yes, it could be better. But it exists. CAD 9.35$ per day, per kid - I can't express how wonderful it is. My kids are evolving wonderfully in the public daycare right in front of my house.
It's also interesting to note that the government funds the daycares, which are themselves nonprofits with community roots. So it doesn't need to be a highly centralized system fully run by the government.
My husband and I both hold PhD s in sciences. We could have moved to the US for jobs. This was a big factor in why we decided not to. Tally up childcare, school costs, health insurance costs - our salaries would have needed to be crazy high in the US to compensate for what is provided here by the state. Yes, we do pay more taxes. I don't care. Having access to all of this is something I would pay even more taxes for.
As it stands, with all that's in place in Québec, I feel like I have the freedom to have the three kids I wish to have. I think society is all the better for it if we can encourage that.
That exchange with the senator feels like every conversation I've had with someone who supports tax cuts and making government smaller. They literally just stop responding at a certain point because there is no argument for it. The brains just turn off I guess. I hope you're right, the thing I keep holding on to is that this is all just the pain of big positive change happening. Hopefully it doesn't take another 20 years.
Saucy: We live in a society. Do your part to help the society and quit being so selfish!
I was already liberal before having kids but having them really opened my eyes. I am fortunate enough to be a high earner but we still struggled to pay for 2 kids in daycare at the same time for a couple years. My wife took the career hit to stay home with them part time because her job as a nurse allowed more flexible hours but it was absolutely a huge impact on our economic participation. That is all after the crazy hospital bills to even safely give birth to the kids in the first place!
One more objection worth addressing (not saying I agree, but it's one I hear):
Developed countries with fully funded early childhood care, strong maternity leave and paternity leave, and strong social insurance programs have lower fertility rates. Supporting parents in having kids seems linked in some way to parents choosing to have fewer kids.
The timing is wrong, they enacted those family friendly policies after their fertility fell as a way to counteract it. The best evidence we have on why fertility has declined has to do with the relative timing of women's economic empowerment and men's domestic empowerment. Countries with the lowest fertility are in Asia, like South Korea, where women have seen accelerated economic mobility and stagnant change in gender roles or culture. You can read more
I would argue this is correlation not causation. For example, fertility rates are likely influenced by access to birth control and countries with better social support probably also have better access to birth control.
Speaking as a US citizen. I left a full time job in natural sciences (well paying role on long term career trajectory) in 2021 to take care of our pre-K child and facilitate remote learning for middle schooler. The primary driver was I believed more than other factors that our major societal marketplaces had failed to respond to the needs of the middle class. Child care was just the first of these to manage.
I felt like as a college degreed man with industry experience I could have a better chance at dealing with the wage loss gap (lost wages, lost experience, lost promotional opportunities ) that occurs when leaving for extended period. Now I am in job search (youngest in school Fall 2024). I sense based on outcomes of interviews the societal expectations on gender roles are more strongly biased towards men that assume domestic care. Basically considered a potential problem employee (nonconformist )and flight risk (too experienced for early career roles and no one to vouch for me for senior roles (moved cross continent and out of network)).
My sense of things is I should probably switch professions and start in new industry in entry role and go for broke to try and secure promotions to achieve long term financial goals near where I was trending. It’s that or accept your non-explored topic of what happens to parents that disengage with job market and learn how to develop other forms of non-monetary capital (home making, social, emotional, living systems, education,..).
Are we relying on these counterparts having a worldview that includes caring for others? We may be overestimating our decision-makers. There is a libertarian fantasy that the U.S. can grow consistently fast with regressive policies and market failures everywhere. In this fantasty, it's fine to ignore poverty and suffering at the federal level, because (1) "those people" are responsible for their own "laziness" (not, again, facing market or policy failures) and (2) cities, states, and non-profits can decide how much to take care of the "deserving poor" in their own communities...
Have you ever made the childcare cost - population decline - labor shortage argument? I would think that if it’s too expensive to have a child, and you’re shamed for having a child you can’t afford, then people just won’t have them. And I would also think that the current worker shortage is in part due to the fact that some folks 20+ years ago decided not to have kids, so those would-be workers aren’t here. Workers aren’t born at working age, they were all someone’s children once. Why don’t policy makers (and some voters) get that?
Excellent! I love your cool headed and feeling saucy analysis, especially swinging for the fences. It is so frustrating to know we have solutions to providing affordable child care (a decades long issue) but not the will. Thank you for continuing to speak to these important issues!
Excellent post. And timely for me. My daughter is trying to break into the career her education has prepared her for, beginning an apprenticeship. But she's caught in the typical catch-22: can't afford to work the lower-income apprenticeship job because daycare costs wipe out her wages, so the higher-wage potential has to be delayed. It's a terribly frustrating situation for her, and a small, be part of an accumulating blow to the economy, as you safely point out.
I'm from Québec (Canada) - we have universal child care 0-5. Yes, access needs to be improved. Yes, it's a mixed public/private with tax credits system. Yes, it could be better. But it exists. CAD 9.35$ per day, per kid - I can't express how wonderful it is. My kids are evolving wonderfully in the public daycare right in front of my house.
This system started in 1997 here - we've had the time to study it all. The system more than pays for itself just with all the moms it brings back to work (and the taxes they pay). https://www.ledevoir.com/economie/819527/garderies-rapportent-trois-fois-plus-meres-ce-elles-coutent-etat
It's also interesting to note that the government funds the daycares, which are themselves nonprofits with community roots. So it doesn't need to be a highly centralized system fully run by the government.
My husband and I both hold PhD s in sciences. We could have moved to the US for jobs. This was a big factor in why we decided not to. Tally up childcare, school costs, health insurance costs - our salaries would have needed to be crazy high in the US to compensate for what is provided here by the state. Yes, we do pay more taxes. I don't care. Having access to all of this is something I would pay even more taxes for.
As it stands, with all that's in place in Québec, I feel like I have the freedom to have the three kids I wish to have. I think society is all the better for it if we can encourage that.
“Someone invested in you” - SNAP!
They did indeed!
That exchange with the senator feels like every conversation I've had with someone who supports tax cuts and making government smaller. They literally just stop responding at a certain point because there is no argument for it. The brains just turn off I guess. I hope you're right, the thing I keep holding on to is that this is all just the pain of big positive change happening. Hopefully it doesn't take another 20 years.
Tax cuts can't solve the problems Americans face.
Great analysis - I enjoy your detailed breakdown on each of the objections!
Lots of ways to talk about it! I code switch based on audience.
Cool headed: I feel smarter every time I read a post from Kedits.
Feeling Saucy: I have to look up the definition of sapiosexual every time I read a post from Kedits.
Thank you for continuing to push this vector of labor economics. Great stuff!
Saucy: We live in a society. Do your part to help the society and quit being so selfish!
I was already liberal before having kids but having them really opened my eyes. I am fortunate enough to be a high earner but we still struggled to pay for 2 kids in daycare at the same time for a couple years. My wife took the career hit to stay home with them part time because her job as a nurse allowed more flexible hours but it was absolutely a huge impact on our economic participation. That is all after the crazy hospital bills to even safely give birth to the kids in the first place!
Great piece! Thank you!
Cheers!
One more objection worth addressing (not saying I agree, but it's one I hear):
Developed countries with fully funded early childhood care, strong maternity leave and paternity leave, and strong social insurance programs have lower fertility rates. Supporting parents in having kids seems linked in some way to parents choosing to have fewer kids.
The timing is wrong, they enacted those family friendly policies after their fertility fell as a way to counteract it. The best evidence we have on why fertility has declined has to do with the relative timing of women's economic empowerment and men's domestic empowerment. Countries with the lowest fertility are in Asia, like South Korea, where women have seen accelerated economic mobility and stagnant change in gender roles or culture. You can read more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/02/18/fertility-decline-women-kids-claudia-goldin/
https://www.nber.org/papers/w33311
Of those family friendly policies, the most effective at increasing fertility is free child care. You can read more
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/padr.12431
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/upshot/americans-fertility-babies.html
I would argue this is correlation not causation. For example, fertility rates are likely influenced by access to birth control and countries with better social support probably also have better access to birth control.
Genius. On behalf of parents, we say THANK YOU!
Happy to help!
Speaking as a US citizen. I left a full time job in natural sciences (well paying role on long term career trajectory) in 2021 to take care of our pre-K child and facilitate remote learning for middle schooler. The primary driver was I believed more than other factors that our major societal marketplaces had failed to respond to the needs of the middle class. Child care was just the first of these to manage.
I felt like as a college degreed man with industry experience I could have a better chance at dealing with the wage loss gap (lost wages, lost experience, lost promotional opportunities ) that occurs when leaving for extended period. Now I am in job search (youngest in school Fall 2024). I sense based on outcomes of interviews the societal expectations on gender roles are more strongly biased towards men that assume domestic care. Basically considered a potential problem employee (nonconformist )and flight risk (too experienced for early career roles and no one to vouch for me for senior roles (moved cross continent and out of network)).
My sense of things is I should probably switch professions and start in new industry in entry role and go for broke to try and secure promotions to achieve long term financial goals near where I was trending. It’s that or accept your non-explored topic of what happens to parents that disengage with job market and learn how to develop other forms of non-monetary capital (home making, social, emotional, living systems, education,..).
Are we relying on these counterparts having a worldview that includes caring for others? We may be overestimating our decision-makers. There is a libertarian fantasy that the U.S. can grow consistently fast with regressive policies and market failures everywhere. In this fantasty, it's fine to ignore poverty and suffering at the federal level, because (1) "those people" are responsible for their own "laziness" (not, again, facing market or policy failures) and (2) cities, states, and non-profits can decide how much to take care of the "deserving poor" in their own communities...
Have you ever made the childcare cost - population decline - labor shortage argument? I would think that if it’s too expensive to have a child, and you’re shamed for having a child you can’t afford, then people just won’t have them. And I would also think that the current worker shortage is in part due to the fact that some folks 20+ years ago decided not to have kids, so those would-be workers aren’t here. Workers aren’t born at working age, they were all someone’s children once. Why don’t policy makers (and some voters) get that?
I love it when you’re “saucy”!
Excellent! I love your cool headed and feeling saucy analysis, especially swinging for the fences. It is so frustrating to know we have solutions to providing affordable child care (a decades long issue) but not the will. Thank you for continuing to speak to these important issues!
Excellent post. And timely for me. My daughter is trying to break into the career her education has prepared her for, beginning an apprenticeship. But she's caught in the typical catch-22: can't afford to work the lower-income apprenticeship job because daycare costs wipe out her wages, so the higher-wage potential has to be delayed. It's a terribly frustrating situation for her, and a small, be part of an accumulating blow to the economy, as you safely point out.
Excellent post—keep on clapping back like this!