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  3. Children are a delight. They are our future. But sadly, hiring someone to take care of them while you go to work is getting more

Children are a delight. They are our future. But sadly, hiring someone to take care of them while you go to work is getting more

admin2019-03-20  53
问题     Children are a delight. They are our future. But sadly, hiring someone to take care of them while you go to work is getting more expensive by the year.
    Earlier this month, it was reported that the cost of enrolling an infant or small kid at a childcare center rose 3% in 2012, faster than the overall cost of living. There are now large strips of the country where daycare for an infant costs more than a tenth of the average married couple’s income.
    This is not necessarily a new trend, but it is a somewhat puzzling one. The price of professional childcare has been rising since the 1980s. Yet during that time, pay for professional childcare workers has stood still. Actually caregivers make less today, in real terms, than they did in 1990. Considering that labor costs are responsible for up to 80% of a daycare center’s expenses, one would expect flat wages to have meant flat prices.
    So who’s to blame for higher childcare costs?
    Childcare is a carefully regulated industry.States lay down rules about how many children each employee is allowed to watch over, the space care centers need per child, and other minute details. And the stricter the regulations, the higher the costs.If it has to hire a caregiver for every two children, it can’t really achieve any economies of scale on labor to save money when other expenses go up. In Massachusetts, where childcare centers must hire one teacher for every three infants, the price of care averaged more than $16,000 per year. In Mississippi, where centers must hire one teacher for every five infants, the price of care averaged less than $5,000.
Unfortunately, I don’t have all the daycare-center regulations handy. But I wouldn’t be surprised if as the rules have become more elaborate, prices have risen. The tradeoff (交换)might be worth it in some cases; after all, the health and safety of children should probably come before cheap service. But certainly, it doesn’t seem to be an accident that some of the cheapest daycare available is in the least regulated South.
What prevents childcare centers from saving money?
选项 A、Steady increase in labor costs.
B、Strict government regulations.
C、Lack of support from the state.
D、High administrative expenses.
答案B
解析 题干“是什么妨碍保育中心省钱?”正是第四段“谁该为上涨的儿童保育价格负责呢?”的同义转述，第四段提出设问，第五段进行回答。第五段指出，儿童保育属于受严格管控的行业，政府制定的相关法规越严格，保育费用越高。因此严格的政府法规是儿童保育价格上涨的原因，在严格的法规下，保育中心必须严格按照法律规定的教师与学生的比例来雇佣保育员，想通过压缩劳动力成本来省钱是不可能的，故答案为B。
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