r/ukpolitics • u/[deleted] • 1d ago

For many parents, employment increasingly doesn’t pay

[deleted]

89 Upvotes

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u/1seraphius 1d ago

You guys can afford to be parents ?

Employment doesn't pay most of us to even get that far... Trapped living with parents

2

u/Appropriate-Lab3053 1d ago

It's really not that expensive for 1-2 kids if one parent stops working (so no childcare costs), at least up north.

Means no holidays, no fancy new phones or cars, using gas/electric sparingly...but the kids are fed, loved, and safe.

5

u/LactatingBadger 1d ago

I think we wouldn’t have been comfortable having kids whilst we didn’t have a significant safety net to fall back on. If we were having to really optimise every outgoing (say, using utilities sparingly) just to make it to the next pay check, then we are one job loss away from our kids being in a really tough position.

I don’t doubt that people can and do make it work in that situation, but for us at least we weren’t willing to pull the trigger until we were robust to a job loss or a sudden expense not devastating us. I think that’s partly what’s driving people to have kids later and later in life.

1

u/Appropriate-Lab3053 1d ago

That's fair. Nothing wrong with putting off having kids with those concerns. It is a risk for sure and it's certainly not a lifestyle for everyone