1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«Our objective is to have a better understanding of the choices and the constraints that parents face in caring for their children through a better knowledge of their use and preferences for various types of child care.» (p. 2)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«The 2006 General Social Survey, Cycle 20: family transitions, is the data base for this paper. The sample included 23,608 respondents, representing a response rate of 67.4%.» (p. 13) Numbers are shown separately for Quebec.

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«We start with the extent of usage of various forms of child care, for respondents with children aged 0-4, along with the reasons for the choice and the preferences for alternate forms of care. Among respondents with children under five years of age, 48% are currently using regular child care of some kind, and 79% of persons using child care are using their preferred form of care. We then consider the paid work status of parents with children aged 0-4, in comparison to other respondents, including their preference to work more or fewer hours. When there are young children present, women on average have lower employment rates, and lower average hours of work, along with a higher proportion who would prefer to work fewer hours. The opposite applies to men, who have their highest employment rates when there are young children at home. These patterns can be interpreted as opportunity costs of child care for women, but they may also represent preferences for given forms of care and for the amount of paid work to be done by women and men when they are parenting young children. The differences between Quebec and the rest of Canada suggest that a greater availability of publicly funded child care prompts a higher usage of child care, and reduces the opportunity costs of child care to women’s work.» (p. 1)