Mothers in the workforce How many mothers are in the labor force o 58 5 of mothers with children under age six and 73 2 of mothers with children 6 to 17 were in the labor force o 53 8 of mothers with infants under age one were in Learning Objectives the labor force Identify the options for childcare for working parents Grasp the real cost of childcare o Out of pocket costs to families o Societal cost of inadequate childcare Understand State Level support government for child care o Differences between US and the remainder of industrial world Managing childcare while working shifts Settings for Care Parental Care Formal Setting o Child care center o Family home child care Informal care relative friend In home care nanny au pair Primary Child Care Arrangements for Employed Parents One quarter of all children under the age of 5 with employed mothers were cared for in center based settings Four in five children under the age of 5 with employed mothers were cared for by someone other than their parents Primary Child care Arrangements for Children Ages 0 4 with Employed Mothers by Type and Percentage Type of Care during mother s work hours Shift Work and Child Care Child care may be handled by parents by o Flexible hours parents work different shifts o 1 3 of all dual earner couples with preschoolers worked alternating shifts o Role of Gender Woman put priority on spouse s needs first turn down opportunities more than men Couple relationship can suffer Single parents do not have this luxury o May rely on relatives o Limited availability of night weekend childcare o Have fewer buffers employment more vulnerable Does child care setting really matter that much YES Kids at risk settings o Most likely to be in informal care and poor quality o Least likely to be school ready o Most likely to lag academically even into middle elementary school Affluent kids o Most likely to be in high quality environments If child care setting is at least adequate then home environment matters most implications of child care setting quality matters across domains and over time what determines quality o Child structured day o Developmental appropriate practices o Predictability and dependability What determines those factors o Depth of child development knowledge A two tiered system of work environments is developing o Formal training of staff Larger firms Smaller firms o Offer better pay o Steadier jobs o More educated workers o Lower pay o less steady jobs o less educated workers the changing workplace in the U S new options for managing work family balance o parental leave time off from work to care for child o part time work with fringe benefits o job sharing 2 women who are working mothers would share a job 2 people 1 position one works Monday one Tuesday maybe a few hours of overlap in the week o flextime policy allows employees to be flexible with hours within limits telecommuting doing work from home using electronic communication
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