Growing pains: Some families are hit by expensive childcare amid labour shortage

Powell (seated, third from left) and Harker (seated, fourth from left) meet with residents during a visit to York, Pennsylvania. — AFP

PARENTS of young children in the United States are finding that with daycare centres in short supply, or too expensive, more and more of them – mostly mothers – are having to stay at home to look after their kids.

"It was just an undercurrent previously that was exposed and compounded by the pandemic," said Kevin Schreiber, who heads an association of business leaders in York County, Pennsylvania.