Four reasons your childcare bill is so high
We know that childcare costs are ever rising, but the latest data – from the Melbourne Institute, which has been tracking the changing nature of how Australians live since 2001 – sets out the pressure on household budgets clearly.
The average amount spent on childcare each week has more than doubled in little more than a decade, rising much faster than household incomes.
Costs have skyrocketed despite federal government spending on childcare growing at least as quickly (actually at an even faster rate, according to the government’s Productivity Commission).
Taxpayers foot nearly two-thirds of the total bill, individual households a tick over a third.
So why are we paying more?
Read more: Sydney Morning Herald