How the Election Could Affect Your Childcare Costs

(Last Updated On: November 7, 2016)

We’ve all heard a lot about major social and economic issues, from both candidates, but you may not have translated how your vote may have a significant impact on your own, and other’s childcare costs. 

Thanks to Care.com for providing this important data.

With child care costs front and center during this Presidential Election, Care.com conducted an analysis on how much child care would cost families under Trump’s tax credit proposal and Clinton’s plan to cap costs at 10% of a family’s household income.

The 2016 Election: Care.com’s Child Care Policy Analysis examines how each of the candidate’s plans would affect the cost of care for two-parent households at three income levels – median, poverty level, and top 1 percent – at a nationwide level and for the five swing states of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The formula utilized an aggregation of existing data from sources including the U.S. Census bureau, AARP, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Care.com’s Care Index.

Here are a few key takeaways from the study:

 

Will families save more money on child care under Clinton’s plan or Trump’s plan?

A family’s savings depends on a number of variables, including their household income, the number of children, age of their children and employment status of the parents, so it’s difficult to make a straight comparison between the two plans. However, based on analysis:

• A median-income family would save $4,241 per child on in-center care and $23,006 on in-home care under Clinton’s plan, and only $1,435 under Trump’s plan for both in-center and in-home care.
• A family at the top 1% wouldn’t save any money under Clinton’s plan for in-center or in-home care, whereas that same family would save $3,164 per child under Trump’s plan.
• Trump’s plan applies to a wider array of care arrangements, including stay-at-home parents, and enrichment activities for older children, and Clinton’s plan includes providing assistance for student parents.

What about paid leave?

By examining the impact of each candidate’s paid leave plan and industry data,  estimates found about 2 million additional American mothers would be able to take paid maternity leave in a given year.

• To further reflect the scope of Clinton’s plan which provides paid leave for both moms and dads after the birth or adoption of a child and to anyone to care for sick family members, an additional 22.4 million working caregivers would have access to paid family leave. 

For more detailed state by state information on the scope of each candidate’s plans for paid leave, please visit 2016 Election: Care.com’s Child Care Policy Analysis.