You're acting like "the family unit" isn't already being affected. The number of families with two working parents has doubled since the Gen Xers started being born where over 2/3s of families have dual earners, with over half not having a parent at home at all times. So the impact of parents working all the time and mental health and the importance of the family unit is basically irrelevant since the factors exist with the current setup anyway. It's not a question of 'the family unit or universal childcare', it's 'expensive childcare vs. cheap childcare'.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
If these healthcare workers are needed, but aren't working because of the want of cheap childcare, their hours get filled by OT and upward wage pressure making the system more expensive.Your argument of 'freeing up labour' implies that it is locked. It is not. Its a crafty way to try and squeeze more milk out of a cow while not understanding the consequences later. There is not a shortage of labour, even if there was there are institutions and processes to address this. Education to reskill, incentivise married couples to have more children and immigration. All three can be used in various stages of the timeline to take on this problem.
But this Universal Childcare is appealing to women. It allows them to work under the narrative they are 'free'. Some of the women work in sectors funded by the state, healthcare in particular. These institutions need more tax money, they need people to work. If they don't get government funding, people lose jobs. So the government gets votes. Create the conditions so the people are dependent on the state.
Also your argument of universal childcare only applies to certain demographic. There are families that have generation households. They don't have issue of childcare. Why should they pay more tax?
But labour is locked because certain jobs don't pay enough to justify paying for childcare (get a job to pay for childcare so they can get a job). Some people don't want to work full time but still want their kids to be involved in daycares for the social aspects, and for their own mental well-being, but there's no way a part time job could justify part-time childcare.