big brother

photo by kevinsgirl

Somebody's gotta keep the kids.

Nannies may be the next group of workers who need a bail out.

CNN just covered a trend that is growing with the recession: child care cut backs.

From the report: The economic booms during the late 1990s and from 2004 to 2007 made it possible for more middle-class and upper middle-class American families to employ nannies, said Genevieve Thiers, founder of Sittercity.com.

"Now that we're back in recession, families are unfortunately having to cut back on their nannies' hours or unfortunately having to let go of their nannies, and it's not a good situation."

But while nannies working for upper-middle and high income families are getting laid off and losing hours in some cases, for working class families the need for child care still abounds. In some cases, even more so as an increasing number of moms are forced to work outside of the home in order to make ends meet. The question is, even with additional jobs, will parents be able to afford care?

CNN and Sittercity.com conducted a survey and found:

  • Stay-at-home parents returning to work: 17 percent
  • Parents working more hours: 27 percent
  • Parents forced to take second job: 8 percent
  • Sitters, nannies paid less than summer of '08: 26 percent
It seems the childcare industry, like the rest of us, cannot escape the domino effect this recession is having on everything.

Have you gone back to work because of the recession? Have you hired or fired a nanny/babysitter because of the economy?