“The problems that contribute to expensive care are multifold and can be understood by taking a close look at how the market is funded, according to Jocelyn Frye, the president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, a nonprofit that works to improve lives.

‘It’s a perfect storm in terms of a number of things coming together,’ Frye told Fortune. ‘Families are struggling across the country, the costs are going up, the number of child-care workers has not yet rebounded fully from pre-pandemic numbers, the costs of operating child-care facilities are escalating and we don’t pay child-care workers themselves enough.'”