LETTER: Concerns over the US birth rate
In a recent column, Victor Joecks expressed his opinion regarding the reduction of the U.S. birth rate. He notes that couples are having children later in life. This not new and has been occurring for several decades.
Mr. Joecks suggests that more stay-at-home moms is the answer to the problem. Unfortunately, household economics now require that both spouses work. Complicating the issue is that day care is very expensive. Couples cannot easily have one spouse work with the other staying at home with the children.
A better solution is for government to subsidize day care, which is done in many other countries. This would also solve the problem that there are not enough licensed day care professionals. These actions would help couples make the choice of having children sooner and more frequently, which would ease concerns over the low U.S. birth rate.