Childcare costs more than rent. A toddler teacher earns $11 an hour—and can't afford to enroll her own daughter. A manufacturer loses skilled workers every time a preschool closes. This isn't a childcare problem. It's a trap. We trace how the childcare crisis became a closed system: Low wages drive 300% annual turnover among early childhood educators. High turnover destroys quality. Declining quality pressures parents to pay more, but tuition hikes force centers to cut hours or close entirely. When centers close, women exit the workforce—costing employers $12.7 billion annually in lost productivity.

Then the external pressures hit: Federal Reserve interest rate hikes stall childcare construction. Immigration backlogs remove one in five workers from the sector. Zoning laws push centers to industrial zones where parents won't drive. State tuition caps intended to help families instead tripled rural center closures in nine months.

But some cities and employers found the leverage points. Multnomah County raised educator wages to $18/hour—turnover dropped 27%. Denver's "Right-to-Care" ordinance created 400 new slots in nine months by opening underused spaces. One CFO called childcare "uptime insurance" and cut absenteeism 24% by subsidizing it directly.

An investigation into the hidden economics of childcare, workforce participation, and why working parents can't win—and the three pressure points that could break the trap open.