Child Care Supports the Economy

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Child Care Supports the Economy

• A key source of early care and education for
  children birth to age 13
• An important workforce support for Oregon parents
  and their employers
• A formal industry, comparable in size to highway
  construction and the postal service

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Child Care Defined

• Child care is paid care, supervision and/or
  guidance on a regular basis of a child under age
  13, unaccompanied by a parent, guardian or
  custodian, during at least part of the day.
• Types of paid care include child care centers,
  preschools, after-school programs, family child
  care providers, and care provided in the childs
  own home.

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Child Care So Oregon Can Work

• Changes in family structure and workplace
  demographics drive child care demand
• Over 60 of Oregon women are in the workplace
  up 40 from three decades ago.
• One-third of all families nearly half of all
  dual-earners and single parents with children
  under 13 pay for child care.
• There are 164,000 Oregon children under age 13 in
  paid child care.

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Child Cares Demand vs. Supply

• There are shortages of child care in many
  communities, particularly for infants and
  toddlers and for children with special needs.
• If all parents who need paid child care could
  access and afford it, an estimated 23,700
  additional Oregonians could participate in the
  workforce.

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Child Care is a Significant Industry

• The child care industry generates 639 million in
  annual output more than milk production, the
  advertising industry or gasoline stations.
• Output is the revenue from parents fees,
  government expenditures and private contributions.

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Child Care is a Major Employer

• The child care industry is made up of 7,900 small
  businesses.
• These businesses employ14,420 people more than
  greenhouses and nurseries, and private colleges
  and universities.
• Yet, child care workers remain among the most
  poorly paid in the state.

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Child Care is a Major Consumer

• Child care businesses buy goods and services from
  their suppliers, supporting jobs and income in
  the industries where purchases are made.
• Child care purchases total 256 million, mostly
  from wholesale trade, food services, and building
  maintenance and repair.
• Child care spending supports 5,900 Oregon jobs in
  other industries.

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Child Care Aids the Bottom Line

• More than 90,000 Oregon families purchase child
  care.
• Child care enables these families to earn more
  than 2.6 billion annually.
• Employers benefit too, especially in health care,
  social services, manufacturing, and retail trade
  sectors where most of these parents work.

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Child Care Enables Exports

• Exports (goods and services sold outside the
  region) support the states economic base by
  bringing in new money.
• Child care is not an export industry, but still
  brings in 122.5 million each year from federal
  taxes and program expenditures.
• This supports 4,000 jobs within the child care
  industry and other Oregon industries.

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Child Care Supports Production

• Child care also supports export production in
  other industries, especially the high-tech and
  manufacturing sectors.
• Because child care is available, parents can work
  and produce goods and services for sale outside
  the state.
• These child care-enabled exports support 5.75
  billion in sales annually and 52,000 Oregon jobs.

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Child Care for the Future Workforce

• Economic development depends on quality of life
  and human development.
• A strong predictor of future academic performance
  is childrens readiness to learn at kindergarten.
  
• Quality child care prepares young children for
  school.

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Child Care Industry Challenges

• Many Oregon families cannot afford quality child
  care.
• The quality of available child care is uneven.
• Industry factors, e.g. low wages and high
  turnover, adversely affect the quality of care.

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What Businesses Can Do

• Ensure that child care is part of economic
  development.
• -- The availability of child care helps ensure a
  job-ready workforce.
• -- The economic benefits of the child care
  industry create a ripple effect in the economy.

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What Employers Can Do

• Helping employees with child care
• -- Aids in recruiting and retaining qualified
  employees
• -- Reduces absenteeism and tardiness due to child
  care problems
• -- Increases worker productivity
• -- Qualifies some employers for tax credits to
  offset the costs

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What Everyone Can Do

• Become a champion for child care
• Urge policymakers to help make child care more
  affordable for all families.
• -- Strengthen investments in early childhood
  programs for high public returns.
• Invest in child care quality through Oregons
  child care contribution tax credit.

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• Information in this presentation was taken from
  the report
• The Economic Impact of Oregons Child Care
  Industry
• June 2005
• Produced through the Oregon Child Care
  Partnership
• A collaboration of
• Oregon Commission for Child Care
• Oregon Commission on Children Families
• Child Care Division of the Oregon Employment
  Department
• Oregon Department Of Human Services
• Oregon Child Care Resource Referral Network
• Children First for Oregon
• The economic analysis in this report was
  completed by Oregon State University (OSU)
  economists and researchers Bruce Sorte,
  M.A.I.S., Extension Community Economist
• Bruce A. Weber, PhD., Professor and Extension
  Economist and Jessica Pearse Nelson, Research
  Assistant, Department of Agriculture and Resource
  Economics.