HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_024497.jpg

outside the home grew from 10.6 million in 1999 to an estimated 12 million in 2003, an increase of 3.1% annually.22

8.3.1 Early Childhood Education’s Role in the Economy

ECE enables people to pursue income-generating activities by allowing parents to participate in the workforce and contribute to the economy. A recent study found that every dollar spent on the formal ECE sector generates approximately 15 dollars worth of additional earnings by parents. 23 Furthermore, evidence suggests that regardless of family income, children who have participated in ECE programs do better in school than their peers who did not. ECE also reduces social and economic costs by lowering school dropout rates, and leads to decreased levels of criminal activity. These social and demographic forces have established ECE as a fundamental component of today’s economic ‘infrastructure’ and a source of economic growth.

Given these and other supporting facts, education is an industry that is of growing importance to the economy. This growth is driven by the following factors:

■ Growing public awareness of the importance of early childhood education. ECE has received increased media and government attention as scientific research highlights the importance of education during a child’s early developmental years. Children who attend high quality ECE centers demonstrate greater mathematical ability, thinking and attention skills, and fewer behavioral problems throughout their educational lives, when compared with children receiving no or lower quality care. These differences hold true for children from a range of family backgrounds.24

■ Favorable demographic trends. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the annual number of live births in the U.S. was approximately 4.1 million in 2003, compared to approximately 3.6 million in 1980, and the U.S. Census Bureau projects the annual number of live births to increase to approximately 4.5 million in 2015.25 The number of children aged five years or under grew from approximately 22.5 million in 1990 to approximately 23.4 million in 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and is projected to reach 26.8 million in 2015.22

Number of Live Births in the U.S.
[Chart showing live births in thousands from 1985 to 2015E, trending upwards from ~3,750 to ~4,500]
Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

■ Changing workforce composition. A rising percentage of women participate in the workforce due to an increasingly higher cost of living, a desire for financial independence and an elevated standard of living preference, which necessitates two full-time wage earners for most families. Of the nearly 65 million jobs created nationally between 1964 and 1997, 40 million were occupied by women. Today, more than 62% of mothers with children under the age of six work full-time compared to 19% in 1960.

22 Source: Harris Nesbitt, Education and Training, September 2005.
23 Source: The National Economic Impacts of the Child Care Sector, 2002.
24 Source: The Children of the Cost, Quality, and Outcomes Study Go To School, 1999.
25 Source: Population Projections Branch, U.S. Census Bureau, “U.S. Interim Projections by Age, Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin,” May 2004.

64

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_024497