The cost of child care: economist and dad crunches the numbers |
When five per cent of a family's income is spent on child care, or up to 20 per cent for single parents, it's no wonder child care is an issue according to Dr. Gordon Cleveland, economist and professor at the University of Toronto. Years ago Cleveland took time out from his career to care for his children and began studying the issue from an economics perspective.
He, with Elizabeth Ablett, Executive Director, Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, discussed the cost and benefits of government subsidization for child care at the Canadian Federation of University Women's Ontario Council meeting in Toronto last fall.
Cleveland's study denotes the traditional model of a stay-at-home mother is nearly extinct. In the 1970s four out of 10 mothers were in the workforce; today it's eight out of 10. And seven of those eight mothers are using non-parental child care on a regular basis.
Ten years ago Quebec began a $5 a day child care program for children aged four years. Within a few years there was an increase of seven to eight per cent of women participating in the labour force, especially lower-educated women who could not previously afford child care.
Cleveland's number crunching demonstrated that for every dollar the federal government invests in child care the cost benefit will be two. In other words if a national child care policy costs $5 billion, the benefit to society will be $10 billion.
He also examined quality of child care from non-profit and profit perspective and noted that care does vary a great deal across the country, particularly in urban centres which are regulated and may be better than those in rural areas.
Elizabeth Ablett remarked the federal government's recent cuts to early learning and child care severely affect low income families. While the federal government has transferred funds to the province to administer, provinces are not mandated to spend the money on child care. The province of Ontario was to step in with grants to offset the federal cuts, but so far it has not, she said. And in rural areas there are no large employers that can subsidize child care. Rural areas will be particularly affected by the loss of child care spaces.
Bill C-303, the Early Learning and Child Care Act, if adopted, will help Canada build a national child care system. Bill C-303 has passed Second Reading in the House of Commons and is now going to the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities for review
A Code Blue campaign has been organized to support Bill C-303. For more information, visit www.buildchildcare.ca
