The Daily Show: Ears Edition - ICYMI - If You Don't Know, Now You Know: U.S. Childcare Crisis

Episode Date: March 13, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic deals an especially hard blow to working mothers, and Trevor examines how America's prohibitively expensive childcare costs have always placed a heavy burden on women. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. You're rolling. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look,

starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. Children. They're like puppies that walk on two legs. But with the pandemic, taking care of them is harder than ever. And guess which gender has been settled with that burden. The child care crisis is pushing working moms out of the labor. th. the the the the the the the the th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. th. thi- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi, thi, thi, thi- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, th. A th. A thi-s, th. th. thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, gender has been settled with that burden? The child care crisis is pushing working moms out of the labor force. More than 2 million women have left the workforce in the US since this pandemic began. When you look at that December job support on a net basis, women made up all of the job losses,

losing 15,000 men net gained 16,000. Even before the pandemic, women shouldered more household chores. When schools shut down and daycares closed, many women felt they had no choice but returned to jobs as homemakers. Burnout among working moms who are juggling it all, the homeschool, the child care and the demanding jobs. My son's headphones are not working right now, so I'm spending my day working while hearing his school in the background.

I usually get about an hour or so of uninterrupted work time. So, there is also the fun fact that my son is in band and they have to do it virtually. Man, I feel so bad for that mom. She's got to work with her kid playing French horn in the background. Honestly speaking, all brass instruments should be illegal. No one's ever said car horns are great, but how do we bring them indoors? But look, if your kid has to play a brass instrument, then you should make sure that it's a trombone. Because at least that way, they can provide sound effects for your zoom calls.

I'm sorry to say this, Mr. Chairman, but our revenue is down this quarter. Thanks, Timmy. You've got to admit, moms are taking on so much more these days. Working, homeschooling their kids, running a house. It's a very different pandemic experience than childless people are having. Because childless people, their complaints are like, oh man, I wasted all day watching Netflix again. I didn't even get to Hulu. Ah, man, what a tough day. But while Corona has exacerbated these problems, child care has been a major issue in America long before everyone started wiping down their junk mail. It's the subject of another episode of,

If you don't know, now you know. Let's be honest people. America is great at many things. Rebooting British TV shows, making anything flaming hot. But providing parents with child care isn't one of them. And the consequences are felt throughout the entire country. The US is one of the only developed countries that does not have free care for young children. Overall, the cost of child care has roughly tripled since 1990, which is more than the overall rate of inflation.

The average cost of care per child is more than $26,000 per year for parents and parts of the USA. That's more than housing and college tuition. Child care costs can wipe out or nearly wipe out. Any economic benefit the woman would get from working. As a result, women will often stay out of the workforce to care for their child. This is going to cost upwards of $700 billion this year 5% of GDP. Labor participation rate of women in the United States kept pace with top countries in this area, like Norway, for instance. Our economy would be $1.6 trillion larger.

Better child care is a win for everybody. There's just no downside to it. That's right. It turns out this burden isn't just on moms. It directly impacts the entire country. America is missing out on economic growth, equality, and probably inventions. You know, like a combination refrigerator toilet. America could have had that by now if the woman who had the idea didn't have to quit her engineering job to to take care of her kids.

And not only does this hurt women's productivity, it also hurts men's productivity. Because if women the women the women women women women women women women women women women women women women women women women women women women women women the women, th women, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, the, the, the, the, th productivity, it also hurts men's productivity. Because if women aren't in the office, then men have to spend all day mansplaining stuff to each other. Hey, Bob, Bob, let me show you how to turn that file into a PDF. Hey, Gary, how about I show you how to save it onto the network drive? No, silly, you got to format it correctly. Here, let me tea you. th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thr. And, thr. And, thr. And, thr. And, theean, thean, thean, thean, thean, tooooooooooooooooo. And, the. And, it correctly. Here, let me show you. Hey, do you know all the formatting shortcuts? Here, let me teach you.

Have you seen a Cohen Brothers movie? I mean, like, really seen it? Quentin Tarantino. Now, the truth is, this child care problem isn't actually that difficult to solve. All you gotta do is let kids get jobs. I mean, a textile mill is just arts and crafts with quotas. But there's also another less illegal solution for child care that other countries have figured out a long time ago.

You let the government pay for it. The cost of child care is generally paid for by a combination of the government, parents and providers. In the US, the cost falls mostly on parents and providers. In other countries like the government, the the the the th, the the the th, th, th, th, th, th, th and th, th and th and th. th. the government, th and the, the, the, the, the, the, thoomomoma, thoome, thooma, thooma, thoomoomoomoomoes, thoes, thoes, thoes, thoes. But thoes. But thiiole, thiole, their their th is is is is also th is is th is th is th is th. th is th is th. th is th is th is th is th is th is the, the, the, tho, tho, tho, thooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooes, the is also the, the U.S., the cost falls mostly on parents and providers. In other countries like Denmark and Sweden, the government foots most of the bill. In Sweden, tax revenue supports generous child care programs and gives employees vast leave of absence opportunities. Those programs in turn help make Swedish citizens more employable. They also don't have to ration big portions of their paychecks to things like daycare or student loans. In Finland, the government offers public daycare for any their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their to ration big portions of their paychecks to things like daycare or student loans. In Finland, the government offers public daycare for any child until the age of seven, or

if the parents decide to opt out, they're entitled to paid leave for the first three years of their kids' life. The French government offers a family allowance every month to help pay for child expenses all the tho-up to to to to the the the their th th th th th th th. th. th. th. thi th. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the the the their their thooma the. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the.. Im. Im. Ine. Ineanananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananannenec. theauu. theau. their their their their the way up until the kid's 20th birthday. On top of all this, families get tax credits for daycare and schooling expenses. It's a generous system that costs the state tens of billions of euros each year, a high cost that's worth it. The more active women are in the workforce, the more they have babies, and more babies means more future workers and future taxpayers. Okay, I mean, that makes, but it's a little weird for that lady to refer to babies as future workers and taxpayers.

I wonder if she rolls up to her new nieces and nephews like, are you going to grow our GDP? Yes, you are. Yes, you are. Although, just for the record, she's not totally right. If the past four years have taught us anything, it's that not all kids work. But look, overall, I think these countries have it right. And it's actually sad when you see Americans get shocked when they learn how other countries handle child care. Wait, they get three years of parental leave in Finland? That's crazy. But it's not crazy. It's just that other countries expect their government to make life

easier for its citizens. Over there they say, wow, it's hard to raise kids. Let's have the government help. Only America goes, wow, it's hard to raise kids. But the government needs all the money for drones and tax cuts. So sorry, Suzy. I hope this iPad this this this this this this thiiiiiii th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. th. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. thi's thi's thi's thi's thi's thi's th. th. th. thi's thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. their their their their their their their kids, but the government needs all the money for drones and tax cuts. So sorry, Susie, I hope this iPad can raise you. But the craziest part is, we know America is capable of giving everyone access to child care, because they've already done it. Back when everything was in black and white. When World War II came, the government started recruiting women to work in factories as the men went out to war. On the production line, Rosie the Riveter steps in when the draftees step out. From 1940 to 1945, the total women in the workforce rose nearly 30 percent. And they very brilliantly realized that if women had children, something had to be done for the children.

So this was the first and only time that the American government, the federal, at the federal level, said, okay, we have to support child care. Essentially, the US was the closest it had ever been to having universal child care. An amendment to the Lanham Act gave families access to child care, including summers and holidays only had to pay roughly $10 a day and today's dollars. But once the war ended and the men went back to work, government funding dried up. You see, America was willing to pay for child care when the only alternative was being overrun

by Nazis. But then once the war was over, America just got rid of it, which is not fair to moms. And it's going to make them a lot the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their o' their o'eruiolu. the once the war was over, America just got rid of it, which is not fair to moms. And it's going to make them a lot more hawkish when it comes to war. The next time America's got tension with Iran, American moms are going to be like, come on, come on, Ayatollah, you've got to make this happen. So the point is, better child care is possible in America. And it would be great if America took America th if America th if America th if America th if America thiiiiii the world if America their their thi their their thi. thi. thi. their thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. And thi. And thi. And th. And their their their their their their their their their their their their their th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And then, th. And then, th. And then, th. And then, th. And then, thi. And then, thin. And then, thin. And then, th. And then, th. And then, th. And then, th. And then, th. And then, th. And then, th. And then, thi. And then, global war against the coronavirus to make child care available for everyone. Because if America misses this opportunity to act, it'll continue to let down its moms, dads, and worst of all, its children. Not now, Timmy!

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible.

I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast.