Paying to work - When childcare costs exceeds the paycheck

[Liberal_in_LA]

:wow:

With rising child-care cost, many parents are paying to work

By Petula Dvorak
Tuesday, January 26, 2010


Because right now, most weeks, I actually pay to work.

And I'm not the only one.

This is embarrassing and stupid and I didn't want to talk about it for a while. Only recently did I begin quietly commiserating with others on the playground and learn that this is a common rite of passage for many parents of young children, when child-care costs are at their highest.

"Glad to know I'm not the only one out there. I was starting to think I'm crazy for still working," one D.C. mom who works at a university told me.

It's a situation among middle-class and professional women that is becoming increasingly commonplace, according to a report released Tuesday by the Center for American Progress and the Center for WorkLife Law at the UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

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When you step off a work path, you lose seniority, experience, benefits -- workforce capital that is difficult to regain once the kids are in school (assuming they go to a free public school, of course).

Boushey calls taking time off to care for kids a "lifetime pay penalty" for some parents.

That's what Julia Christian, executive director of the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, wants to avoid. She, too, doesn't make enough to cover the cost of day care for her daughter.

"I think there are more people in this boat than people are aware of," Christian said. "It's really sad.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/25/AR2010012503553.html