A look at the daycare business in today's world
The daycare business is growing because there is continuing strong demand for child care services because most parents of young children work, and require child care to do so.
* Approximately 85 percent of fathers, and more than 50 percent of mothers with pre-school age (five years or less) children, are in the labor force.
* As a result of welfare reform, lower income families have entered the labor force in greater numbers, needing increasing amounts of child care and some of that daycare business
is financed by the government.
* Middle and upper-income parents tend to have fewer children than in previous decades resulting in more couples with two well-established incomes to spend on fewer children.
As a result of these trends, the daycare business has become an increasingly important part of the national economy.
The daycare business contributes to the national economic well-being in three critical ways:
* In 2001 Americans spent approximately $38 billion a year on licensed child care programs, creating enough income to support approximately 2.8 million direct and indirect, jobs. In fact, licensed child care programs directly employ more Americans than public secondary schools, and are directly responsible for twice as many jobs as the farming sector.
* By making it possible for parents to work, Daycare Providers enable Americans to earn more than $100 billion annually.
* Quality child care has been shown to contribute to reductions in special education costs, lower school drop-out rates, decreased levels of criminal activity, and increased earning power, including reduced risks of poverty.
What does this mean for someone thinking about the daycare business? It means that you will be part of a growth industry that serves a critical need for families and businesses.
