1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«In this article, our analytic goals are, first, to measure the impact of the Quebec daycare program on parental strategies for employment and child care in the context of the human capital of both partners; and, second, to determine whether the program increased gender equity and diminished class differences in parental strategies.» (p. 244)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
Les auteurs utilisent les données des recensements de 1996, de 2001 et de 2006.

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«Consistent with previous research, we find that Quebec’s policy of providing low-cost daycare for children up to age five increased the labour force participation of the mothers of young children. Relative to change in the ROC, there is a decline of about 4 percent (from 25 to 21 percent) in the proportion of married families, and a decline of 6 percent (from 22 to 16 percent) in the numbers of common-law families where the father is employed full-time and the mother is not employed and does more child care. The effect is quite large relative to the already very high level of maternal employment in 1996, before the program was adopted. […] The proportion of Quebec families that combine the father’s full-time employment with the mother’s part-time employment does not change. Likely these arrangements involved some purchase of child care before the new policy. This suggests that for many families, even with low-cost daycare, mothers’ part-time employment is still not a rational strategy. The lower earnings and benefits of part-time employment, the cost of child care, and the psychic and material costs of couples scheduling their work hours when caring for young children can easily negate the small financial gain.» (p. 257-258)