Teen babysitters are high in-demand and more expensive than ever as Millennial parents become desperate for extra childcare support. 

Teen babysitters are high in-demand and more expensive than ever as Millennial parents become desperate for extra childcare support. According to The Wall Street Journal, teen babysitters are now asking for as much as $30 an hour–a huge number compared to what Millennials remember making when they were teen babysitters themselves. While some experts say the $30 rate is “on the extreme end of the kid-caretaker pay spectrum,” it’s not surprising given the rising inflation costs. Prior to the pandemic, the inflation rate for babysitter pay was about 2%. in 2021, it increased to about 7% and in 2022, it surged to 12%. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for 16-19-year-olds stands at 10.2%—the lowest rate for that age group since the ‘50s. This suggests that any teen looking for a job “will likely be able to find one”—especially with the summer coming up. The data shows that the demographic is making as much as $566 a week, or $28 an hour, on average for someone working 20 hours per week. And as parents head back into the office and their social lives, many of them are competing for part-time babysitters. Millennial parents especially “appear even more willing to pay out the nose, simply because it’s all they’ve ever known.” (NBC News)