Child Care Costs and Women's Employment: A Comparison of Single and Married Mothers With Pre-School-Aged Children

Objectives . The effects of child care costs on the employment of single and married mothers with pre-school-aged children were analyzed. Methods . Both demographic and employment data from the March Current Population Survey were used, supplemented by child care data from various sources. Results . We find that child care costs have strong effects on employment for women with pre-school-aged children and that these effects are larger for single mothers than for married mothers. Conclusions . Our simulation results suggest that policies that reduce the costs of child care could raise the employment rate of married mothers by 3 to 14 percentage points and the employment rate of single mothers by 5 to 21 percentage points.