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Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

March 11, 2019 3:31 PM

The scarcity of affordable child care

The children sit down for a moment. — Children sit down at the Little Ducks Daycare in Blackduck, Minn., in March 2018.
Monika Lawrence for MPR News 2018

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The cost of child care is staggering. In America, young parents spend more than 25 percent of their income on child care. That number doubles for single parents. In some cities, that's almost as much as a second rent payment each month.

In February, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential hopeful, laid out her plan to make child care more affordable. President Trump's daughter, Ivanka, also called for increased spending on child care in the White House budget, released Monday.

MPR News host Kerri Miller crunched the numbers. How desperate is the situation? Why is child care so expensive? Is there a role for businesses in providing a solution? Or is so-called "universal child care" the only viable way forward?

Guests:
Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of Families and Work Institute and the author of "Mind in the Making"

Samuel Hammond, director of poverty and welfare policy at the Niskanen Center

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

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