Excerpt: Child care is evolving, and most care providers and parents agree the changes are for the best. What are some of the latest trends in child care and what should parents be looking for when making an all-important child care decision?
No longer is child care for young children simply babysitting. Child c are centers have mostly transitioned to centers for early education, where young tots are involved with early learning. The trend to learning centers is partly due to high parent and school expectations; it's also attributable to research that shows that kids are capable of learning early academics and other skills that previously were not taught until later.
Source: http://childcare.about.com/od/
evaluations/tp/trends.htm
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Excerpt: Wages are low in the industry, an issue that is often linked with quality of care. The payroll of child care businesses with employees in 2008 totaled just over $150 million – this averages out to an annual industry wage of $16,881, less than half the all-industry average of $39,564. The child care industry has high employee turnover, according to the BLS Occupational Handbook. The industry is also characterized by low profitability, according to a 2005 Child Care Division study (The Economic Impact of Oregon's Child Care Industry). Supply of day care currently is not meeting potential demand. Employers offering day care as an employee benefit may see more productivity from current employees and may be more successful recruiting quality job applicants in an increasingly competitive recruiting environment.
Source: http://www.qualityinfo.org/olmisj/ArticleReader?itemid=00005307
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Excerpt: A growing number of child care providers are reporting a drop in enrollment as parents lose jobs or try to cut back expenses, according to an organization that helps connect families with quality day care.
"We're talking to centers and for the first time we're finding vacancies," said Becky Hancock, program coordinator of Child Care Resource and Referral. "Normally, especially for infants, we'll have to call five, six or seven centers or home-care providers for the little guys. Now we're calling and being able to place them immediately. Even for large families, centers are having openings."Victoria Best, owner and director of Cholla Montessori in north Mesa, said her organization is staying afloat, but barely.
It's a trend going on nationwide, said Linda Smith, director of the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies."We're hearing that all over the country parents are taking their children out (of child care)," Smith said during a phone interview from Virginia. "The impact will probably outlast the current economic downturn." A drop in quality day care could hinder the U.S. economy as it struggles to come back from this recession, Smith said. "It's going to take a long time to rebuild child care," Smith said.
"We've done a lot of work in response to hurricanes or fire, Hurricane Katrina and the hurricane in Galveston this year. We know people can't go to work if they don't have child care. As more and more people get laid off and child cares close down, as the economy starts to pick back up, with child care not there, it'll be a hard situation."
Source: Reese, Michelle. " Child care enrollment dropping in Phoenix area." The Associated Press State & Local Wire 10 Jan. 2009, Section: Business. Lexis Nexis. University of Texas at San Antonio, John Peace Library. San Antonio, TX. 28 May 2009
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