UK 
United States
We’ve talked about the perfect storm for labour shortages in a previous blog, discussing the various impacts of the pandemic and leaving the EU.
However, another perfectly cognisant reason could be that we are losing a large percentage of a possible labour force by not better enabling parents to work around their parenting need. Lack of support, it could be argued, causes predominantly women to drop out of employment and thus additionally adds to the gender pay gap.
The cost of childcare in the UK has shot up in recent years with a 2019 OECD study showing the UK has the second-highest childcare costs relative to earnings in the world, with only New Zealand higher. In the UK, childcare costs are 35.7% of average wages, compared to the OECD average of 14.5%.
According to a recent report the average current childcare costs in the UK are as follows:
Nursery place for children aged 0-2 – £138.70 a week for part-time (25 hours) and £269.86 a week for full-time (50 hours) in Great Britain
