The cost for Australian families of raising two or more children has risen to at least $36,500 a year, according to new research, with the money needed to run a family increasing by 134% in two decades.
Data released by advocacy group The Parenthood on Wednesday shows household income has only grown by 102% in the same period, with childcare costs making up 33% of the total cost of having children today. In 2003, the figure was 27%, according to the analysis by firm Connell Griffin.
Parenthood chief executive, Georgie Dent, will address the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, arguing that having children reduces the earnings of Australian women by an average of 55% over the first five years of parenthood.
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She will say families need two incomes to stay afloat in the current economy, and even with both parents working, they have less breathing room in their household budget.
“For many families it feels like a cruel game of whack-a-mole,” Dent will say.
“For parents of young children seeking to raise and provide for their family one obstacle towers over the others: early childhood education and care.
“Too many face an impossible ...