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Benefits of Child Care
December 15, 2009
It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime...
-Khaled Hosseini, Afghan-American Author
-Khaled Hosseini, Afghan-American Author
A major new study on the economics of early learning found that investing in childcare provides the greatest economic benefit of all sectors of the Canadian economy. This study, reported on the CUPE website found that...
- Investing $1 million in childcare would create 40 jobs: at least 43% more jobs than the next highest industry and four times the number of jobs generated by $1 million in construction spending.
- Every dollar invested in childcare increases the economy’s output (GDP) by $2.30. This is one of the highest GDP impacts of all major sectors.
The study, led by well-respected economist Robert Fairholm, also analyzed a number of other social and economic impacts of childcare and estimated the level and impact of workforce shortages of childcare workers. Some of these other findings are:
- Positive child outcomes and benefits are strongly related to the quality of the childcare service. However, parents have a difficult time judging quality. This points to the need for well-regulated publicly-delivered childcare services.
- Low rates of pay and poor working conditions have led to high turnover among childcare providers. This has contributed to immediate workforce shortages of childcare workers averaging over 5,000 per year in recent years.
- The social benefits — and the government revenues — from more childcare workers are greater than both the costs of training and current childcare subsidy levels.
- The net national economic cost of these immediate shortages is estimated at over $140 million for the period from 2001 to 2007. The shortage of childcare workers also held back parents from entering the workforce. In total, it meant a loss of almost 50,000 person years of employment for childcare workers and parents during this period.
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Comments (2)
Displaying All 2 CommentsAuthor: Developing Quality Care for Young Children; Corwin Pres
Rockville Centre, New York, United States
Although this study was done in Canada, the basic issue is one that confronts the United States as well. Of particular immediate importance to the early child care profession is the issue of the low rates of pay and poor working conditions of child care workers, leading to a critical shortage of professional personnel.
In the introduction to my book (see www.CareForYoungChildren.com), I detail the urgent need for a national system of early child care. With a large majority of women with children under the age of six now in the work force, particularly in light of the squeeze on families in the current economic recession, the need for high quality child care has never been greater. And the essence of high quality child care is that it’s not just baby sitting. It’s engaged in establishing the foundation for learning. In such a program, children are loved and nurtured while they are exposed to interesting, exciting things and encouraged to question and explore.
To accomplish this takes a staff with the highest educational and professional skills. But in many cases the salaries are just above the poverty line with people often leaving the profession to seek other jobs where they can make a living. And particularly with the current soaring costs of higher education, how can we expect well-trained professional people to enter and remain in the field?
The only solution to this problem that doesn’t entail making tuition rates unaffordable for most families is a federally funded national program of early child care for all families in our country who seek it.
United States
While I can certainly see the benefits the article points out I sincerely question that these results point to the need for publicly delivered childcare. I've seen what the government delivers and truly believe that often times the private section can and does deliver a better product. Well regulated services are, however, important to the quality of childcare. At that that is true from my point of view in the United States.
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