Childcare workers earn $14.60/hr median wage yet parents pay $28,000/yr -- neither side wins

The median childcare worker earns $14.60/hour, placing them in the bottom 5% of all occupational wages, while 43% of their families rely on public assistance like Medicaid and food stamps. Yet parents paying $28,000/year for care feel crushed by the cost. The math does not add up because childcare is an irreducibly labor-intensive service with mandated low ratios, no economies of scale, and no productivity gains from technology. This structural trap means the only way to raise worker wages is to raise parent tuition, but parents are already at the breaking point -- 31% are dipping into savings and 20% spend more than a fifth of household income on care. Neither side can give, so the system slowly collapses through turnover and closures.