Every time the bills like those of the supermarket or gasoline result in higher prices. The pandemic has left countless health consequences and a mark on the economic sector that has made life even more expensive. The generalized and sustained increase in market prices accounts for the latter.
Not even the first economy in the world has been able to put itself before the inflation that plagues hundreds of countries throughout the globe. Today, more than ever, budget challenges are latent and involve essential aspects such as raising children.
“The United States is the developed country with the most intense inflation”were the words of Keneth Rogoff, professor of Public Policy and Economics at Harvard University for ‘BBC Mundo’.
(Also read: US GDP shrinks and recession threat still not averted).
A study by the American research center Brooklyn Institution revealed the challenging landscape facing parents of children in the United States. With an estimate of 310,605 thousand dollars, equivalent to 1,393,995,264 Colombian pesos, a middle-income married couple will be able to raise the youngest of their two children from birth to high school for 18,271 dollars per year, that is, 82 million pesos in Colombia.
This figure is not at all encouraging when compared to the data released by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2017. Just five years ago, the cost of raising an American child up to the age of 17 was around 233,610 dollars, that is, 1,048,441,664 COP.
The highest expenses of parenting
Housing and food stand as the winners in the contest of the highest costs of raising. Especially, total costs are largely dominated by housing, since almost a third of total expenses come from this sector.
(Keep reading: Euro registers another fall and its price is below the dollar).
Just take a look at the figures to understand that housing has broken historical price records so far this year. According to the television channel ‘CNN’, “The median house price in July, at US$403,800 (1,812,254,464 COP), rose 10.8 percent from a year ago, representing more than a decade of year-on-year monthly gains).
Although disturbing, the data does not stop surprising. Food was also not far behind, as it was positioned as the second most expensive budget item for raising a child. 18 percent of the total cost of expenses was the percentage that the place awarded after housing.
The exponential increase in food is largely due to price increases of up to thirteen percent in the year 2021. “Almost all basic necessities are more expensive due to inflation: the price of eggs shot up 38%, chicken 17.6% and milk 15.6%.”, ‘CNN’ clarified.
(Of interest: United Kingdom: new wave of strikes against inflation that affects wages).
The results put on the table an issue that sometimes causes discomfort among families, but is urgently admitted among households: budget cuts. In an interview with the newspaper ‘The Wall Street Journal’, Isabel Sawhill, one of the leading authors of the study said that the results: “They make people recognize that when you start having a family or when you increase the size of it, they will have to be compensated with other items in the budget”.
With market prices continuing to skyrocket in the coming years, the costs associated with raising American children are expected to rise as well.
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