Big differences depending on where you live: Now the people decide on the financing of the daycare

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Many cannot afford it. Childcare as an addition to the family often means a great financial burden for working parents, with the result that one parent – ​​often the woman – gives up all or part of the paid job. She has to make do with a lower income, later possibly even with a lower pension.

Figures from a 2021 Credit Suisse study show that a middle-income family pays up to five times more for childcare, depending on where they live!

For example, a couple with a gross income of 110,000 francs – which corresponds to a joint workload of 140 percent, about the Swiss median gross wage – and an estate of 100,000 francs in Wollerau SZ or Mendrisio TI pays the least at about 4,700 francs per year for the daycare. By way of comparison, in Wetzikon ZH, the same couple pays CHF 24,200 per year for external childcare.

Geneva and Neuchâtel the cheapest

Working parents pay the cheapest rates on average in the western Swiss cantons of Geneva and Neuchâtel. In most of the Central Swiss cantons, but also in Basel-Land, Zurich and Solothurn, they have to dig deep into their pockets.

But not only the costs are a problem, also the lack of supply. Finding a suitable daycare today depends very much on where you live.

This is where the SP wants to start its day care center initiative. This guarantees that every child in Switzerland is entitled to extra-family care. Childcare prices would be graduated according to income, but parents would have to spend a maximum of ten percent of their income on their children’s childcare places. The federal government should bear two-thirds of the costs.

The federal government wants to continue to support parents with the costs of childcare

According to the SP, the initiative should also ensure fair wages and better working conditions for daycare staff. The initiators will submit the initiative on Wednesday.

The issue of external childcare has already been discussed in parliament. On March 1, the National Council approved a corresponding bill. It decided that the federal government would initially cover up to 20 percent of the average cost of a child care facility; later it may be less. According to estimates by the committee that drafted the law, the initial contribution from the federal government is about CHF 710 million per year.

The argument that Switzerland should do more to reconcile work and family life – also in view of the already serious shortage of skilled workers – thus prevailed. The bill will now go to the Council of States.

Resistance to more childcare costs

Last week, however, the Bundesrat again opposed higher state contributions to childcare as part of the 2024 budget proposal, despite the fact that an external study found that mothers are more likely to return to work or work more after giving birth if the cost of care decreases.

If that is the case at all, a maximum of half of the money should be spent on financing day care centres. The Bundesrat also calls for more involvement of the cantons. (Okay)

Source:Blick