The cost of child care is out of reach for many in the United States: The average household spends around $9,000 to $9,600 annually for a single child. That’s roughly double the cost of one year at an in-state university, more than 10 percent of the median income for a two-earner household, and 37 percent of the median income for a single-earner household. Forty-three percent of highly qualified women with children leave the workforce, according to the Harvard Business Review, with the temporal and financial demands of parenthood to blame.
We asked 6,000 women whether their employer provides child care assistance. Less that 9 percent say their employer does. The largest percentage share—67.3 percent—say no. Nearly a quarter are unaware of any employer-subsidized child care assistance.
Employers that offer child care assistance
There are companies working to make life easier for professional parents. Clif Bar & Company, General Mills, and SAS offer on-site child care centers. Patagonia has been offering that service for more than three decades and estimates the company recoups 91 percent of the cost though tax benefits, employee retention, and employee engagement.
Edward Jones offers dependent day care reimbursement accounts, while consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) offers backup child care reimbursement programs (when employees work late, for example).
Methodology
Survey of 6,201 women in April 2019.
