The Children of America - Working Parents And Child Care

Since the 1970s, one of the most dramatic changes in the structure of the American family has been the increased employment of mothers outside the home. According to the sixth annual interagency report America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2002, the share of all children with at least one parent working full-time increased from 70% in 1980 to 80% in 2000. Reflecting a tight economy and company downsizing efforts, the share of all children with at least one parent working full-time dropped to 78% in 2002. For children living in two-parent households, 89% had at least one parent working in 2002, compared to 80% in 1980. Forty-nine percent of single mothers and 70% of single fathers were working in 2002. (See Figure 3.6.)

Despite the growing number of women in the workforce, since 1994 the number of children in two-parent families with a stay-at-home mother and working father increased steadily. In 2002 about eleven million children, or 25% of children under age fifteen living with two married parents, had full-time stay-at-home mothers. About 189,000 similarly situated children had stay-at-home fathers and full-time working mothers in 2002. The number of fathers who remained at home to care for the family while their wives worked increased erratically between 1994 and 2004. (See Figure 3.7.)

As more and more mothers held paying jobs, the issue of child care became a great concern, not only for parents but also for policymakers. The implementation of welfare-reform legislation, which required welfare recipients to work, further pushed the problem of available child care to the forefront. While only one-third of children with single mothers saw their mothers employed full-time in 1980, that share increased to almost half of children with single mothers by 2002. (See Figure 3.6.)

For both single parents and two-parent working couples, child care presented significant challenges. Among preschool age children, 48% of 0–2 year olds and 25% of 3–6 year olds received total parental care from stay-at-home mothers or fathers in 2001. Some two-parent working couples worked different shifts to allow one parent to be at home with the children. In America's Children 2004 the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics compares the type of care received by children age zero to two and three to six (not yet in kindergarten) in 2001. For infants and toddlers (age zero to two) the distribution was almost 50–50 parental care and nonparental care. More than half of the older children were in center-based care such as daycare centers, pre-kindergartens, nursery schools, Head Start programs, and other early childhood education programs.

Once children started school, parents were still concerned about before and after school care. Almost half of children in kindergarten through third grade (K–3) and children in fourth through eighth grade (4–8) were cared for outside of school hours by a parent. Twenty-five percent of children in grades 4–8 were responsible for themselves before and after school while parents worked.

FIGURE 3.6

FIGURE 3.7

Nearly half of school-age children participated in some type of after-school activities that provided alternate supervision. Sports attracted 28% of K–3-grade children and 38% of 4–8-grade children. Another 18% of K–3- and 26% of 4–8-grade children were involved in religious activities. In addition, parents reported their children took part in after-school arts activities, clubs, academic programs, community service, and scouting.

Child Care for the Working Poor

Since the 1930s, the federal government has subsidized child care for low-income families. Government-funded programs such as Head Start, which began as a nutritional and health program for poor children in the 1960s, offered educational readiness to prepare children for school as part of the child-care program. The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), authorized by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PL 104–193), helped low-income families and those leaving the welfare rolls to obtain child care so they could pursue employment, job training, or education.

Some Employers Address Child-Care Problems

In the United States, employer-sponsored child-care benefits have been rare, although the trend toward on-site child care has increased. Some employers offer child-care reimbursement accounts funded with employee pretax contributions. Employees in medium and large establishments were more likely than those in smaller establishments to receive child-care benefits.

In 2002 a new Child Care Assistance Tax Credit became available to employers. Employers who provided child-care resources or facilities for employees could take a tax credit of up to $150,000 for actual expenses of the benefits provided. In a 2003 Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of private industry employers, 5% of workers had access to employer sponsored on-site or off-site child care. Full-time employees earning $15 per hour or higher were more likely to have this option than part-time and lower paid workers. Just 3% of workers earning less than $15 per hour had employer provided child care, compared to 8% of higher paid workers. Employer sponsored child care was available to nearly four times as many workers in white-collar occupations (7%) as blue-collar occupations (2%). Companies with a hundred or more employees were more likely than smaller companies to provide child care. (See Table 3.5.)

Income Tax Credit

The Internal Revenue Service offered some assistance to working parents through the Dependent Care Tax Credit (DCTC). This credit applied not only to care for children under age thirteen but also to costs of care for other dependents, such as a spouse or parent who was physically or mentally incapable of self-care. The maximum credit for the 2003 tax year was $3,000 for one child and $6,000 for two children. Some states offered tax credits as well. Those who made too little money to pay income tax, however, were not eligible to file for this income tax credit.