Businesses & Employers

Child care is much more than a personal issue - it's a business and workplace issue.

• US employers pay $3 billion annually due to child care-related absenteeism
• 78 percent of families in 2002 are comprised of dual-income earners.
• Dual-earning couples with children have a combined total of 91 work hours per week, having risen from 81 work hours per week in 1977.

When parents feel secure leaving their children in a child care environment that nurtures their development and learning, they can be more productive in the workplace.

When children attend high-quality programs, they are more likely to enter school with greater skills for success - they have the opportunity to grow cognitively, socially, emotionally, and physically. Every $1 invested in quality early childhood care and education saves as much as $7 by increasing the likelihood that children will be literate, employed and enrolled in post secondary education and less likely to be school dropouts, dependent on welfare or arrested for criminal activity.