How $10-a-day child care could pay for itself

A report commissioned by Early Childhood Educators of B.C. predicts that $10-a-day child care could pay for itself within three years of implementation. The Socio-Economic Impact Analysis of the $10aDayChild Care Plan for British Columbia makes the case that increased government revenues from the jobs generated through expanding and operating a new childcare system, taxing the income of parents who would return to the workforce, and single parents who would move off social assistance and into a job would bring in $112 million more than it would cost to implement a $10-a-day plan. Current child care costs and the lack of availability of space is an issue for many parents in the Lower Mainland. As reported in today’s Province newspaper, a case in point is mother Heather Allen. Towards the end of her maternity leave, Allen started looking for childcare in downtown Vancouver. Wait lists were between two and three years. Allen decided not to go back to work. “We’re educated, experienced, resourceful women and we can’t find our way back into the workforce,” said Allen. According to www.$10aday.ca, 81% of parents who use child care say that the cost puts a financial strain on their family. Child-care spaces in some parts of BC are as high as $100 a day in some places as reported by The Province. Other research cited in the report shows benefits from implementing an affordable child-care plan include the fact that households no longer pressured by child-care expenses are freed up to spend money on other things. The report also cites evidence that by having affordable child-care, businesses see more productivity and less absenteeism from employees are are parents. The $10-a-day childcare plan is estimated to cost $1.5 billion a year to implement and would create 31,215 new full-time child care spaces, reduce fees for parents, and provide a living wage for child-care workers by the year 2025. This report comes out the day after UNICEF Canada’s President & CEO David Morley visited Vancouver to talk about child poverty.  In another story published in The Province newspaper, Morley says that some of the ways to eradicate child poverty include increasing affordable child care and ensuring healthy early years for children. “There’s brain research that shows that if we can give to children in their first couple of years a secure and loving environment, it pays dividends as we go along to the future,” said Morley. United Way British Columbia supports the movement for $10-a-day childcare in BC and sees it as one plank that could be part of an overall poverty reduction plan for BC.