Hi, I'm Dan Pramak and welcome to Axios Recap, presented by Bridge Bank.

Today's Thursday, September 24th.

New home sales are up, new home supply is down, and we're focused on how America's economic

recovery is tied to America's child care system. Child care in the U.S. was precarious, at best, before the pandemic.

Now, though, it's an outright disaster, with some providers going out of business, and many of those

that remain under rules that limit the number of children they can care for, thus putting pressure

on profit margins,

if there were even profits to start with. In fact, one estimate is that 50% of all U.S.

child care facilities won't survive the pandemic. Now, for families that could afford full-time

daycare or after-school care, they're often finding themselves shut out, including the parents of older

kids whose schools aren't physically open. For parents with fewer financial resources, the situation's

even more dire, particularly since it's often these parents whose jobs require them to actually

show up in person, not over Zoom. Those with kids know exactly why this crisis matters for them,

but for the broader country, the reality is that our economy cannot begin humming while

kids aren't being cared for. Yes, there was a proposed $50 billion bailout for the

child care industry, which could have alleviated some of this, but like most other

things in D.C. these days, it stalled out. Labor economists have warned for years that

systemically devaluing child care, which is what we do here, could have serious repercussions

for the economy at large, and now we're seeing those warnings come to a frustrating fruition.

So in 15 seconds, we'll go deeper into the problem and what can be done to turn the tide

with Vox senior reporter Anna North.

But first, this.

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