Millennial Parents Need Quality, Affordable Child Care For Their Children
It’s a fact: quality, affordable child care is currently out of reach for many families across the United States. And this is especially true for Millennial families. In 2014, there were more than 16 million mothers in the Millennial generation—i.e. those who are now 15 to 34 years old—and that number is growing quickly. So as Millennials begin to raise children they’re feeling the brunt of growing child care costs.
Millennial parents face unique challenges to financial stability as they start their families: they have higher poverty rates, lower incomes, and more student debt than the generations before them did at the same age. In fact, annual earnings of 18- to 34-year-olds decreased $3,500 between 1980 and 2013. And, in 2014, 16- to 34-year-olds made up more than 70 percent of minimum-wage earners, meaning, on average, child care costs more than their entire annual income.
Millennials need expanded access to quality, affordable child care now, which is why Generation Progress, Young Invincibles, and the Center for American Progress’s Within Reach campaign are hosting the Millennial month of action on child care in May. Follow @YoungInvincible, @GenProgress, and @withinreach16 on Twitter and stay tuned throughout May for ways to lift up the importance of childcare for young people. And for more information on Millennials and child care, check out the infographic below.
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