Childcare affordability in Australia

Provides an overview of the child care industry in Australia, trends through time, international comparisons and a regional perspective on child care costs and affordability. Abstract The 35th AMP.NATSEM Income and Wealth Report Child Care: Affordability in Australia provides unique research into the affordability of child care in Australia. The report provides an overview of the industry in Australia, trends through time, international comparisons and a regional perspective on child care costs and affordability. The report finds that child care costs have increased dramatically over the past 10 years but due to government benefits we find that the out-of-pocket costs remain well contained for families but at a significant cost to the Government. The report considers the difficult decision that parents make in returning to work and we show that returns to work for a low income mother can be as low as $3.45 per hour once the loss of government benefits, taxation and child care costs are considered. The report finds that the most unaffordable child care is in the Sydney CBD area and some mining communities where the daily rate can be as high as $170 per day. The least expensive child care is in North Queensland and Brisbane has the most affordable child care of capital cities. The child care benefits system provides significant relief for parents but a larger share of the benefits are received by relatively high income families. The report considers an alternative child care policy of making child care payments tax deductible and the report finds that relative to the current system all families would be worse off but low and middle income families would be significantly disadvantaged