The impact of inflation continues to burden families on a wide range of issues, such as childcare.
A report by the online caregiver listing service Urban Sitter found that babysitting costs are outpacing the current inflation rate, weighing upon families across the country, with a 9.7 percent jump in rates for sitters in 2022.
The average cost per hour for a sitter was $22.68 for one child and $27.70 for two. The increase is being linked to a number of factors, including the need for longer care times as many Americans return to the office full time and a shortage of available workers, allowing the available ones to charge higher rates.
While the federal government deems 7 percent or less of a family's income spent on childcare as being affordable, a Care.com survey found that more than half of Americans were spending upwards of 20 percent of their earnings.
As surging costs continue to take their toll on families, more states are beginning to provide childcare aid, according to Axios. Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island are among those to offer programs, and even many businesses are stepping up to help their employees in an effort to ease the burden.
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
