The Committee for Economic Development (CED) has issued a report, Child Care in State Economies, in which “the economic role of the industry is examined using three distinct perspectives—the traditional labor force view of child care as a means for parents to work; the child care industry’s macroeconomic role in the U.S. economy; and the role played by child care in regional economic growth and development.” The report also evaluates the economic role of child care at the state level in extensive detail, frequently with state-by-state data.
Child care is particularly important in Wisconsin
The report provides an interesting finding for Wisconsin, based on Census data from 2010-2014: Wisconsin was ranked 10th among states for the highest percent of children age 0-14 that were in some form of paid child care, and ranked 7th for the highest percent of children ages 0-4 in some form of paid child care. The states with the highest percent of children in paid care were predominantly in the Midwest on both lists: South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin.
It may be that the strong work ethic in the Midwest leads to more parents going to work, even when they have young children. According to 2013 KidsCount data on children and working parents, six of the eight states with the highest percent of children with all available parents in the workforce were Midwest states:
Wisconsin is ranked third among states.
The report shows that child care works indirectly to stimulate regional economic growth through its indirect support of increased labor force participation and education of the workforce in a region. The report carefully examines the economic impact of child care.
