As child care costs soar, more parents may have to exit the workforce

Re:As child care costs soar, more parents may have to exit t... by rayiner on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @10:14PM (#38108145)

It’s not just a values question, but a valid criticism of GDP as a measure. If you and I stay home and take care of our own kids, then that counts $0 to GDP. If we take care of each other’s kids and pay each other an amount that balances to $0, that contributes significantly to GDP.

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Re:As child care costs soar, more parents may have to exit t... by threeseed on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @10:28PM (#38108247)

If you think about what you wrote it doesn't actually add up.

If you're both staying at home and paying each other X then where did you get the money from to generate X.

You would've had to do some economic producing activity.

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Re:As child care costs soar, more parents may have to exit t... by aidenn0 on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @10:33PM (#38108287)

I hand you $100 and you hand me $100. We can do that until the paper currency wears out and generate huge amounts of GDP!

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Re:As child care costs soar, more parents may have to exit t... by chii on Thursday November 02, 2023 @09:16AM (#38113085)

If you do this legitimately, you both slowly lose money to taxation.

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Re:As child care costs soar, more parents may have to exit t... by BolexNOLA on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @10:31PM (#38108277)

Their partners’ respective salaries

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Re:As child care costs soar, more parents may have to exit t... by bachmeier on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @10:47PM (#38108385)

The BEA has done some work to capture non-market activity:

https://www.bea.gov/data/special-topics/household-production

For whatever reason, it doesn't seem to have gotten much attention.

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Re:As child care costs soar, more parents may have to exit t... by rottencupcakes on Thursday November 02, 2023 @06:06PM (#38120939)

Thanks for the clarification. I guess everybody who stays home to look after a child should have their GDP contribution rated the same as a professional provider.

I'm surprised this wasn't taken into account long ago? Are homemakers really excluded from any GDP calculation?

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Re:As child care costs soar, more parents may have to exit t... by hollerith on Monday November 06, 2023 @03:46PM (#38168734)

>Are homemakers really excluded from any GDP calculation?

Yes.

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