The Child Care Workforce Page: 4 of 21
This report is part of the collection entitled: Congressional Research Service Reports and was provided to UNT Digital Library by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
The Child Care Workforce
Perhaps one of the most dramatic changes in the composition of the labor force
during the last century was brought about by women increasingly engaging in paid
employment. Over the past few decades, married mothers with children -
particularly young children - have fueled much of the increase in female labor force
participation. Recently (1990-2000), the share of women in married-couple families
who had children under age 5 and who were members of the labor force grew from
58% to 62%. Similarly, 76% of mothers with 5-14 year olds in married-couple
families were members of the labor force in 2000, up from 72% in 1990.1
The now commonplace presence in the labor force of married mothers with
young children in part underlay congressional passage of welfare reform in 1996.
That is to say, policymakers questioned why poor single mothers of young children
shouldn't be induced to work if so many non-poor married mothers currently are
employed. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of
1996, in turn, reinforced the trend toward greater maternal employment through its
implementation of work requirements for adult beneficiaries - primarily single
mothers - of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
The heightened involvement of women in the labor force likely has decreased the
availability of informal caregivers (e.g., neighbors, friends and relatives) and sparked
a more widespread need for child care services that can be purchased in the
marketplace. In 1995, according to the latest published data from the U.S. Census
Bureau, 41% of employed women with children under age 15 paid someone to look
after their children. In 1986, the comparable figure was 31%.2 The cost of child care
consequently has become an integral component of more families' budgets over the
years.
Since the mid-1990s, the affordability of child care has become particularly
important to growing numbers of low-income mothers as they leave the TANF rolls
for jobs.3 In 1997, the child care expenses of working families with youngsters under
'U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unpublished data from the March 1990 and March 2000
Current Population Survey.
2U.S. Bureau of the Census. Who's Minding the Kids? Child Care Arrangements. P70-70,
Fall 1995. (Hereafter cited as U.S. Bureau of the Census, Who's Minding the Kids.)
3For one estimate of the impact of child care costs and subsidies on the incomes of mothers
leaving the welfare rolls see: Meyers, Marcia K., with Wen-Jui Han and Irwin Garfinkel.
Child Care in the Wake of Welfare Reform: The Impact of Government Subsidies on the
Economic Well-Being of Single-Mother Families. Social Service Review, March 2001.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This report can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Report.
Levine, Linda. The Child Care Workforce, report, September 10, 2001; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc816921/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.