View Research by Author - Stefanie R. Schmidt

Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/StefanieRSchmidt

Data from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families examines the help families get paying for child care expenses. Twenty-nine percent of employed families with children under age 13 get help paying for care, or free care, from relatives, the government, private organizations, employers, non-resident parents, or other individuals. At least 14 percent of families get free child care from relatives, and at least 12 percent get free child care or pay lower bills due to help from the government or private organizations. The report examines the help received by families by income and family structure as well as expenses with and without preschool-aged children. The report updates earlier research on the incidence and amount of child care expenses. Despite the help they receive, low-income families paying for child care spend an average of 14 percent of their earnings to purchase that care. [View the corresponding press release]

Nearly 20.5 million children with employed parents regularly spend time in child care each week, according to data from the 1997 and 1999 rounds of the National Survey of America’s Families. Three out of four children 4-years-old and younger, four out of five five-year-olds, and half of school-age children with employed .primary caretakers are regularly in non-parental care when they are not in school. An additional ten percent of school-age children are home alone or with a sibling younger than 13 while their primary caretaker is working. This report details the share of children in center-based care, family child care, relative care, nanny or babysitter care, before- and after-school programs, self care, and parent care. It also looks at how child care arrangements vary by state of residence, family structure, income, and age of child. Changes between 1997 and 1999 are examined.

Recent Changes in Welfare and Work, Child Care, and Child Welfare Systems are based on discussions with program administrators, front-line workers, policy advocates, and focus groups in Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, Wisconsin, California, Colorado, New Jersey, New York, and Washington. Recent Changes analyzes what has happened to the cash assistance, employment and training, child care, and child welfare systems in each state since the enactment of federal welfare reform.

This report completes the methodological discussion of 1997 NSAF estimation that was begun in report no. 3 in this series. Here our goal is to describe how we brought the 1997 NSAF up to census undercount-adjusted control totals. In report no. 3, a description was given of the first estimation approaches used for the 1997 survey. (Report no. 3 also explains how we brought the survey up to census-level controls.)

The recent performance of the US job market has proved surprisingly strong. Unemployment rates are at a 30-year low and far below what most macroeconomists predicted could be reached without substantial increases in inflation. Job growth has been strong. Employers have expanded their recruitment to reach large numbers of youth, low-skilled workers, mothers heading families, and other groups generally not favored in the labor market. Even wages, which had been rising only slowly, have been increasing more rapidly.

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