Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/trends-in-demand-for-center-based-child-care-and-early-education/5012308/
This article explores six trends that will have an important impact on the demand for center-based child care and early education at the beginning of the 21st century.Trend 1. Continued growth in the labor force participation rates of women will overcome relatively steady population amongst zero to five year olds to create modest growth in the overall need for child care for working parents.
U.S. Census projections indicate that the population of children five and under will be flat from 1990 through 2005. In 1990, the population was 18,900,000. In 2005, it is projected to be just over 20,000,000. Then it will start a slow, steady growth rate of about .75% a year for the next 25 years (Day, 1996).
There are no official projections about the labor force participation rates of women with young children. Most agree that these rates will continue to grow, though probably less rapidly than in the past two and a half decades (Day, 1996). Chart I shows the overall need for child care based on maternal employment under three different scenarios of women's labor force participation. The bottom line would be the scenario if the labor force participation of women with children under six stayed ...