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Report: Over half of Texas families say childcare costs made them have fewer kids - EverythingLubbock.com
More than half of Texas parents say childcare costs have pushed them to have fewer children than they planned, according to a new report from the policy group Texas 2036. The report puts the number at 56.7 percent of Texas parents who say childcare expenses have shaped their family planning decisions.
The report puts the number at 56.7 percent of Texas parents who say childcare expenses have shaped their family planning decisions. The ripple effects go further. Thirty percent of parents surveyed said they have turned down a promotion because of childcare costs, and 11 percent said they left a job entirely in the past 12 months for the same reason.
Charles Miller, Director of Health and Economic Mobility Policy at Texas 2036, said the consequences stretch beyond household budgets. When workers cannot accept jobs or move up in their careers because childcare is too expensive or too hard to find, employers feel it too. Lubbock families dealing with limited childcare options or long waitlists at centers near Tech Terrace are living that reality.
For people here, this is not an abstract policy question. It is a calculation happening at kitchen tables: can we afford another child, can one of us take that raise, can we keep working at all.
Texas is one of the most expensive states in the country for childcare, which makes that 56.7 percent figure harder to brush off.
Common questions
How many Texas parents say childcare costs changed how many kids they had?
- More than half - 56.7 percent of Texas parents surveyed - say childcare expenses have directly shaped their family planning decisions, according to a new report from the policy group Texas 2036. That means the majority of parents in the state are making life decisions based on the cost of childcare.
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