考研阅读精选：保育费--“微小”的负担
『随着幼儿保育工作的职业化，其费用也突飞猛涨。』Child-care costs：Precious little burdens
保育费：“微小”的负担
Nov 5, 2011 | From The Economist
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GONE are the days when a mother’s place was in the home: in Britainwomen with children are now as likely to be in paid work as theirunencumbered sisters. Many put their little darlings in day care longbefore they start school. Mindful that a poor start can blight aperson’s chances of success later in life, the state has intervened evermore closely in how babies and toddlers are looked after. Inspectorscall not only at nurseries but also at homes where youngsters areminded; three-year-olds follow the national curriculum. Child care hasincreasingly become a profession.
For years after thegovernment first began in 2001 to twist the arms of anyone who lookedafter an unrelated child to register with the schools inspectorate, thenumbers so doing fell. Kind but clueless neighbours stopped lookingafter little ones, who were instead herded into formal nurseries orhanded over to one of the ever-fewer registered child-minders. Thedecline in the number of people taking in children now appears to havehalted. According to data released by the Office for Standards inEducation on October 27th, the number of registered child-mindersreached its lowest point in September 2010 and has since recoveredslightly.
The new lot are certainly better qualified. In 2010fully 82% of nursery workers held diplomas notionally equivalent toA-levels, the university-entrance exams taken mostly by 18-year-olds, upfrom 56% seven years earlier, says Anand Shukla of the Daycare Trust, acharity. Nurseries staffed by university graduates tend to be ratedhighest by inspectors, increasing their appeal to the pickiest parents.As a result, more graduates are being recruited.
Butprofessionalisation has also pushed up the price of child care, defyingeven the economic slump. A survey by the Daycare Trust finds that afull-time nursery place in England for a child aged under two, who mustbe intensively supervised, costs £194 ($310) per week, on average.Prices in London and the south-east are far higher. Parents in Britainspend more on child care than anywhere else in the world, according tothe OECD, a think-tank. Some 68% of a typical second earner’s net incomeis spent on freeing her to work, compared with an OECD average of 52%.
The price of child care is not only eye-watering, but has also become abarrier to work. Soon after it took power the coalition governmentpledged to ensure that people are better off in work than on benefits,but a recent survey by Save the Children, a charity, found that the highcost of day care prevented a quarter of low-paid workers from returningto their jobs once they had started a family. The government pays forfree part-time nursery places for three- and four-year-olds, andcontributes towards day-care costs for younger children from poor areas.Alas, extending such a subsidy during straitened economic times wouldappear to be anything but child’s play. (485 words)
文章地址：http://www.economist.com/node/21536630
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