Skip to content

Thinking is hard

That’s the approach taken by other countries, especially across Europe and Scandinavia.

In Germany, the average cost of childcare is just €1,310 (£1,140) annually; the Dutch government plans to cover 95pc of the cost for all working parents by 2025. In France, there are crèches for children aged two and a half months to three years, with 80pc of the cost met by the government.

In Denmark, all children up to age six have a guaranteed childcare place, and the government covers 75pc of the cost. In Finland, every child has a legal right to high-quality pre-school care. Fees are capped at €295 a month for the youngest child, €118 for the second youngest and a maximum €59 for any other children.

She’s talking as if having government pay the cost reduces the cost. Of course, it doesn’t, it just moves the cost around. That insistence that Whitehall really must just solve the servant problem.

If childcare really is expensive – and it is – then it’s possible to change the regs to make it less so. Or, the other solution, more parents do their own childcare.

9 thoughts on “Thinking is hard”

  1. Isn’t the problem in the UK that the ratio of play school staff to littlies something like four to one – by law. Whereas in Germany, and other European countries, the ratio is eight to one. Thus costs here are much higher. Perhaps someone here can tell me if I’m right or wrong.

  2. “Let’s bring women into the workplace!”

    “Who is going to look after the kids?”

    “Erm… are you Hitler or something?”.

  3. Does the solution work for Germany / NL / Denmark / France? Are more mothers in work? Do they earn more because they haven’t left the workforce for years while their children are young? Are they happier? Merely pointing at a situation doesn’t give us these answers.

    One tidbit I know about the Netherlands is that the 60% of women in work are part-time; more than twice the OECD average. That makes childcare much more manageable. Perhaps spending more time with mum explains why Dutch children are the happiest in the world.

  4. “Let’s bring women into the workplace!”

    “Who is going to look after the kids?”

    “Erm… are you Hitler or something?”.

    A perfect example of why GDP is a terrible measure of how good things are and why politicians can’t be trusted.

    Woman A has a child that they stay home and take care of. Woman B does a job.
    Along comes politicians saying that we should encourage womens back to work.
    So Woman A does the job previously done by Woman B. Woman B meanwhile, becomes a child carer nursery worker and looks after the child of Woman A. Woman A’s earnings mostly go to woman B for cost of nursery care.
    We’re no better off (and some studies show children put in day care have worse life outcomes). The job is still done, the child still cared for. But politicos can boast about how they’ve grown the economy because now they both count to GDP and something vague about empowering women because liberation from childcare or some such nonsense.

  5. So….. for each of the countries quoted, let’s see (1) the total costs of providing childcare, (2) the total revenue generated by the childcare sector, split into (i) revenue from customers and (ii) revenue from taxpayers, and finally (3) the number of children catered for by the system.

    This should enable a sensible discussion, rather than just punting out random numbers in a telegraph article.

    I haven’t read the full article – does it by any chance end with a demand for More Government Funding ™ ?

  6. My wife and I are childless (by choice). I joke that she already has a child to look after, me!

    What Boganboy says is correct though, the push in Oz is for more childcare subsidy, in the name of workforce participation. I object to paying tax for other people’s sprogs to be looked after.

  7. Ltw,
    “I object to paying tax for other people’s sprogs to be looked after.”

    That ship has long sailed. We’re all paying for other people’s children in one way or another, mostly through schooling. Childcare is just school without the pretence that the children are learning.

  8. …the Dutch government plans to cover 95pc of the cost for all working parents by 2025…

    No it damn well does not.
    A “Campaign Promise” by certain irrelevant parties, yes. Reality, remote or otherwise? Not on your life.

    @AndrewM Yes, but most mums can work some parttime “job” because most kids are in school from roughly 3-3.5 years on, and a fair amount of those part-time “jobs” is , in fact, in school taking care of other’s sprogs. Quite often on a “volunteer compensation”, not a proper salary…
    Guess where the Activist Mums are active….

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *