Hey there, 

Welcome back to another edition of Virginia Capital, Dogwood’s economic policy newsletter that puts workers first. 

You can read Thursday’s edition here. 

My son is doing well at his new “big boy school,” as he likes to call it. His transition to a publicly funded pre-school program has lifted a huge financial burden from my household. However, my daughter is still in daycare, so my wife and I are not out of the woods just yet. 

On Friday, I asked one of her daycare teachers, in my broken Spanish, if she had any weekend plans. She told me she’d be helping her brother with a house-painting job. It was a stark reminder that, among the many challenges facing our childcare system, its workers are underpaid. 

Today, I dig in on why the costs of childcare are so high and the need for simple rules to protect workers from excessive heat. I also share the best thing I bought at the farmers market this summer. 

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

As I mentioned above, I’m a parent of two who knows first-hand how expensive daycare is in Virginia. I also know the industry’s workers are not making enough. 

The problem is bad all over the country, but it’s especially bad in Northern Virginia, where the cost of living is also high.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Arlington County and Alexandria were among the top 10 localities where daycare was most expensive. The median cost of five years of daycare in Arlington was $146,741. For Alexandria, the figure was $123,977. Meanwhile, five years of undergrad at a Virginia state school costs about  $72,300. 

The Journal’s reporting made me wonder why childcare is so expensive and how we could make it more accessible. The answer seemed to boil down to more public investment and a shift toward treating childcare like a “public good.” 

As one research analyst told me, childcare workers are underpaid, childcare providers are barely getting by on thin profit margins, and parents are struggling to pay for childcare. 

The system is not working for anyone. 

Not only are childcare workers underpaid, but access to childcare leads to greater economic freedom for other workers juggling the costs of housing. When a worker has access to childcare, she – and it’s almost always the mother – has the freedom to earn enough wages to pay the rent. 

As the Center for American Progress put it last year: Child care is work that supports all other work. 

• Rebecca Barnabi of the Augusta Free Press has the story on school teachers and staff fighting for collective bargaining in Waynesboro.                                                                                                                                                                                  

• The Virginian-Pilot’s Trevor Metcalf reports that rent prices in Hampton Roads are among the fastest growing in the country. 

   

• The chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors penned an op-ed warning about the pain from federal spending and job cuts.   

(Damian Dovarganes/AP)

As the world gets hotter, the risks to workers grow. 

Dangers for delivery drivers, warehouse workers, farmworkers, and food truck workers are growing increasingly deadly. Heat-related deaths have doubled in recent decades, as noted by Jeff Goodell in The New York Times. 

Here in Virginia, there are attempts to make hotter working conditions safer for workers. In the statehouse, Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Richmond) and Del. Phil Hernandez (D-Norfolk) introduced bills to let workers get compensated for heat illnesses. But lawmakers failed to advance the legislation. 

At the federal level, US Rep. Bobby Scott (VA-03) is fighting to establish federal heat regulations for workers. He helped introduce legislation aimed at getting workers more shade and frequent water breaks.

“It doesn’t take much to protect people,” Scott said in an interview. “And if you’re not careful, people will die.”

(Michael O’Connor/Dogwood)

One of the best parts of summer is going to farmers markets. 

For me, that means heading to Alexandria’s Old Town Farmers’ Market, which according to the city is the “oldest farmers’ market in the country held continuously at the same site.” 

My family always gets pastries, some fresh tomatoes, and tries some of the local fare. Last week, we got some decent bao buns. 

But the best thing I think I picked up at the farmers market this year was a jar of ramp mustard made by a West Virginia operation. It’s delicious. 

Let me know how the farmers markets are in your area, and if you have any good mustard recommendations.

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