Child Care as an Economic Incentive for the Working Poor

Abstract

New federal funds from the Child Care and Dependent Block Grant Act of 1990 provide resources for states to increase the supply of subsidized child care for the working poor. Based on data from the largest urban county in North Carolina, the authors examine the potential economic implications of expanded child-care assistance for a group of parents for whom this support may be effective as an employment incentive and support: low-income parents with preschool children who have a definite offer of a job or are already employed and who are on the waiting list for state-subsidized child-care support. The results are generally supportive of the importance and potential cost-effectiveness of expanded subsidized child-care assistance as an employment incentive and support to this group of parents. Many of these parents may require additional supports to improve their employment prospects and to promote their employment stability.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bane

M. J.

, & Ellwood

D. T.

(1983). The dynamics of dependence: The route to self-sufficiency. Unpublished manuscript. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Bowen

G. L.

, & Neenan

P. A.

(1991). Child care recycling fund experiment. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Durkin

(1991, January 20). Cash for kids. Charlotte, NC: The Charlotte Observer, pp. C1, C4.

Ellwood

D. T.

(1985). Targeting the 'would be' recipients of long-term AFDC: Who should be served?. Princeton, NJ: Mathematics Policy Research.

Ellwood

D. T.

(1988). Poor support: Poverty in the American family. New York: Basic Books.

Garfinkel

(1987). Welfare policy in America. Madison, W1: University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.

Glasser

(1991). Rural child care in North Carolina. Popular Government, 56(3), 10–18.

Goodwin

(1983). Causes and cures of welfare: New evidence on the social psychology of the poor. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

Hosni

D. A.

, & Donnan

(1979). An economic analysis of child care support to low income mothers. Report prepared for Florida Department of Community Affairs, Community Services Trust, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL.

10.

Hutchens

R. M.

(1981). Entry and exit transactions in a government transfer program: The case of aid to families with dependent children. Journal of Human Resources, 16, 217–237.

11.

Joesch

J. M.

(1991). The effect of the price of child care on AFDC mothers' paid work behavior. Family Relations, 40, 161–166.

12.

Jones

(1991, March 21). $5.5 million grant going to day care. Raleigh: NC: The News and Observer, p. 3B.

13.

Louis Harris & Associates, Inc. (1989). The Philip Morris Companies Inc. family survey II: Child care. New York: Philip Morris Companies, Inc.

14.

Marshall

N. L.

, & Marx

(1991). The affordability of child care for the working poor. Families in Society, 72, 202–211.

15.

MOW International Research Team. (1987). The meaning of work. London: Academic Press.

16.

Moynihan

D. P.

(1988). Reform welfare to strengthen families. Family Affairs, p. 1.

17.

Neenan

P. A.

, & Bowen

G. L.

(1991). Multimethod assessment of a child care demonstration project for AFDC recipient families: The genesis of an evaluation. Evaluation Review, 15, 219–232.

18.

North Carolina Department of Human Resources. (1991, February 1). Governor Martin addresses day care waiting list. Raleigh, NC: Public Affairs Office.

19.

Polit

D. F.

, & O'Hara

J. J.

(1989). Support services. In Cottingham

P. H.

, & Ellwood

D. T.

(Eds.), Welfare policy for the 1990s (pp. 165–198). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

20.

Presser

H. B.

, & Baldwin

(1980). Child care as a constraint on employment: Prevalence correlates and bearing on work and fertility nexus. American Journal of Sociology, 85, 1202–1213.

21.

Rank

M. R.

(1986). Family structure and the process of exiting from welfare. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 48, 607–618.

22.

Staff. (1991, January). New child care block grant and IV-A funds. Family Matters, pp. 13–15.

23.

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, Inc. (1990). SPSS reference guide. Chicago: Author.

24.

Troy

(1986). Meeting human needs: Corporate programs and partnerships (Report no. 881). New York: Conference Board.

25.

U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1987). Who's minding the kids? (Current Population Reports, Series P-70, no. 9). Washington, DC: Author.

26.

U.S. Government Accounting Office. (1988). Work and welfare: Analysis of AFDC employment programs in four states (HRD-88-33FS). Washington, DC: Author.

27.

Zopf

P. E.

(1989). American women in poverty. New York: Praeger.