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Climbing Child Care Expenses - 7/18/16

If you are trying to raise a young family and you are having difficulty making ends meet, know that you are hardly alone.  As an example of the myriad pressures facing young parents, child care expenses have climbed nearly twice as rapidly as overall prices since the recession ended seven years ago according to Labor Department data. 

As indicated by writer Eric Morath, while wages continue to climb slowly, the nation has continued to add jobs, increasing the demand for childcare and at least partially offsetting income gains.  To put this into broader perspective, the total cost of raising a child born in twenty thirteen until the age of eighteen is projected to be nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for a middle income family. 

For low income families, the cost is estimated to be a bit less than one hundred and eighty thousand dollars, and for high income families, in excess of four hundred thousand dollars.  Not surprisingly, young families are especially insecure financially. 

An April Gallup poll found that thirty seven percent of Americans between the ages of thirty and forty nine, the age when many are raising children, say they don’t have enough money to live comfortably, the highest share of any age group.    

Anirban Basu, Chariman Chief Executive Officer of Sage Policy Group (SPG), is one of the Mid-Atlantic region's leading economic consultants. Prior to founding SPG he was Chairman and CEO of Optimal Solutions Group, a company he co-founded and which continues to operate. Anirban has also served as Director of Applied Economics and Senior Economist for RESI, where he used his extensive knowledge of the Mid-Atlantic region to support numerous clients in their strategic decision-making processes. Clients have included the Maryland Department of Transportation, St. Paul Companies, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Players Committee and the Martin O'Malley mayoral campaign.