Child Care, Female Employment, and Economic Growth

In this paper, I describe the linkage between child care, female employment, and regional economic growth. I begin with a detailed examination of modal choices in child care and relate these choices to female employment outcomes. Next, I discuss the empirical evidence regarding the importance of child care prices in employment choices. In the mid-section of the paper, I describe governmental involvement in the child care market both at the federal and state level. Then, I discuss problems with child care that affect parents ' involvement, and the role that work disruption plays in the motherhood wage gap. I conclude the paper with a discussion of the importance of a community's work/family support system, including child care assistance to the region's economic development. Although workforce development policies typically focus on preparing new workers for work, I argue for an increased emphasis on worker retention, particularly mothers who comprise an ever-growing proportion of the high-skilled workforce.