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Despite nursery costs that are around 60% higher than in the oecd, a club of mostly rich countries , employment rates for British mothers with children under 15 are in the middle of the pack.
尽管英国的育儿成本比主要由富裕国家组成的经济合作与发展组织的国家高出60%左右，但孩子在15岁以下的英国母亲的就业率却处于中等水平。
This suggests that mothers who really want to work are finding a way to do so.
这表明，真正想要工作的母亲正在寻找一种方法来做到这一点。
But there is also plenty of evidence that constraints are an issue.
但也有大量证据表明，限制是一个问题。
Three in five non-working mothers say that they would prefer to work, given the right child care.
五分之三的没有工作的母亲表示，如果孩子得到适当的照顾，她们更愿意工作。
Families had to fork out an average of 260 pounds ($320) a week in 2021 for 50 hours of nursery care for a child under two, according to a survey by Coram Family and Childcare, a charity.
根据科拉姆家庭和儿童保育慈善机构的一项调查，2021年，每个家庭要为两岁以下的儿童提供50小时的托儿服务，平均每周要支付260英镑(320美元)。
A tenth of households with a child under five report difficulty meeting such costs.
有五岁以下孩子的家庭中，有十分之一的家庭表示支付不起此类费用。
Borrowing to cover child-care bills is a nice idea in theory, but uncertainty over their future earnings puts many people off.
从理论上讲，借钱来支付育儿费用是一个好主意，但他们未来收入的不确定性让许多人望而却步。
As well as price, availability is a problem.
除了价格，供应也是一个问题。
Just 68% of local authorities in England report having enough child-care provision to serve parents who work full time.
英格兰只有68%的地方政府有足够的托儿服务来照顾全职工作的父母。
And the benefits that could flow from evening out the gender imbalance in child care could be pretty large.
而且，平衡儿童保育方面的性别失衡可能会带来相当大的好处。
The latest data suggest that the employment rate for mothers with dependent children is around 18 percentage points lower than that for fathers.
最新数据显示，抚养子女的家庭，母亲的就业率比父亲的就业率低约18个百分点。
Compared with other countries, Britain has a relatively high share of mothers in part-time work.
与其他国家相比，英国母亲从事兼职工作的比例相对较高。
One recent study estimated the gains from shuffling men and women according to aptitude, pulling productive women into work and kicking unproductive men out.
最近的一项研究估计了根据能力对男性和女性进行调整的好处，让有生产力的女性去工作，把没有生产力的男性踢出局。
Astonishingly, it calculated that Britain’s average output per worker could be as much as 30% higher.
令人惊讶的是，根据它的计算，英国每个工人的平均产出可能高出30%。
Cheaper child care could help growth, in other words, but policies would need to be well-designed to target genuinely constrained parents and to stop costs spiralling out of control.
换句话说，更便宜的育儿成本可能有助于经济增长，但政策需要精心设计，针对那些确实受到约束的父母，并防止成本失控。
Generous German arrangements do not come cheap.
慷慨的德国育儿成本并不便宜。
Mr Johnson has thus far been focusing on regulatory barriers to becoming a childminder and on child-to-carer ratios.
到目前为止，约翰逊一直专注于扫清托儿所的监管障碍，以及儿童与托儿所的比例。
Yet deregulation may have only a marginal effect, and points to another problem.
然而，放松监管可能只会产生微乎其微的效果，并指向另一个问题。
Christine Farquharson of the ifs says that helping mums into work requires child care that is flexible and offers long hours.
IFS的克里斯汀·法克哈森说，帮助妈妈们找到工作需要灵活的、长时间的育儿服务。
But giving children the best start in life means shorter, structured days full of interaction.
但给孩子们人生最好的开始意味着更短、更有条理、充满互动的日子。
