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UNH Study Finds Childcare Costs Push Families Out Of The Middle Class

CREDIT MIKE ROSS, UNH

A UNH study looks at how the costs of childcare are pushing some families out of the middle class.

The study found that 9 percent of families with kids under 6 fell into low-middle class or low class because of childcare costs.

Beth Mattingly is the director of the Vulnerable Families Research Program at UNH. She said once kids reach school age, some families do find more economic stability. 

"But the fact that this expense alone is making it hard during those critical early years for families to stay in the middle class was an interesting finding," she said.

For future research, Mattingly wants to look at what kind of childcare parents would choose if costs weren't a barrier.

Daniela is an editor in NHPR's newsroom. She leads NHPR's Spanish language news initiative, ¿Qué Hay de Nuevo, New Hampshire? and the station's climate change reporting project, By Degrees. You can email her at dallee@nhpr.org.
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