The Value of Early Learning and Child Care for Parents

Overview

Quality child care allows parents to balance work and family responsibilities. With an increasing number of women with young children in the paid workforce, access to affordable, high-quality child care is not an option for many families--it is a necessity. Statistics demonstrate the importance of early learning and child care services for Canadian families:

• In families with 2 working parents, 71% of children were in child care in 2003 (Statistics Canada, Report on Child Care, April 2006)
• In single-parent families, 83% of children were in child care in 2003 (Statistics Canada, Report on Child Care, April 2006)
• The female employment rate in Canada is 76%; the OECD average is 64% (OECD Report 2004)
• In 2 of 3 two-parent families, both parents work (OECD Report 2004)

Role of the workforce

A quality child care workforce is of critical importance to parents. While they’re at work or in school, they want to ensure their children are with trained and caring early childhood educators (ECEs). This allows parents to work or study with peace of mind, knowing that the learning, care and developmental needs of their children are being met.

Research on this topic

The following resources provide information on this topic:

• Quebec experiment of $5 per Day Child Care Policy and Mother's Labour Supply
• Statistics Canada, Report on Child Care, April 2006
• Babies and Bosses: Reconciling Work and Family Life (OECD)
• Fact and fantasy: Eight myths about early childhood education and care (2003)