The COVID-19 pandemic and associated stay-at-home, social distancing, and cleaning orders dealt a heavy blow to the childcare industry. Family childcare providers, for instance, saw rising costs due to new…
Childcare is expensive all over the country, but parents in Minnesota have it especially hard. According to data from Childcare Aware, for example, daycare for infants cost 21 percent of…
A battle is brewing up in the St. Paul City Council over a free to low-cost childcare proposal. After failing to garner enough verified signatures in 2022, St. Paul’s universal…
In what will be an ongoing effort to track the ever-growing list of frauds perpetrated against state and local governments in Minnesota, I’ve started a spreadsheet tracker, A few notes…
Childcare providers are having a hard time recruiting workers in Minnesota. According to the Star Tribune, A March survey by the Minneapolis Fed and First Children’s Finance found even though…
On January 8, WalletHub released a study ranking Minnesota as one of the best states to raise a family. Minnesota ranked number 3 overall, only behind Massachusetts and North Dakota.…
Earlier today the Minnesota Senate Taxes Committee held a hearing on bill SF 0009 which proposes to expand Minnesota’s child care and dependent care credit. Currently, families with incomes less…
Childcare is in a crisis. While employment in most sectors has returned to pre-pandemic levels, the same is not true for childcare. Nationally, over 100,000 workers are still missing from…
Minnesota’s childcare crisis hurts parents, children, and the communities they live in.
Childcare is expensive in Minnesota. In 2019, for example, Minnesota parents paid over $16,000 to keep their infants in a daycare center. Only five other states were more expensive than…
On August 11, the U.S. Senate passed a massive $3.5 trillion spending plan, which, among other things, includes $225 billion for affordable childcare. Details for the bill are yet to…
The high cost of childcare in Minnesota - caused chiefly by government regulation - strains families and our economy, especially in Greater Minnesota.
There are currently no estimates for the economic cost of lack of access to affordable childcare on the whole state of Minnesota. But the high cost on employers due to…
Childcare is essential for the economy. And right now, access to childcare will be a critical factor in deciding when parents will be able to go back to work. It…
In 2018, Wilder research provided data showing how much the Northeastern Minnesota economy loses due to a shortage of childcare. Among other things, the report showed that: (1) Families in…