Table 1:

• Half of the Milwaukee County preschool children whose mothers are employed full-time are in higher income families where the family income is at 300 percent of poverty or more. Another 29 percent are in mid-range income families, usually ineligible for subsidy programs in 1999. Less than a fourth are in poor families.

Graph 1:

• Most low-income families eligible for child care subsidies are headed by single parents. Only 35 percent of children in families with income below 150 percent of the poverty level were in a two-parent family, compared to 78 percent of children in families with income at 150-299 percent of the poverty level and 88 percent of children in families with income at 300 percent of the poverty level or above.

• Very few low-income two-parent families (11 percent) had both parents employed.

• The 1999 NSAF survey data estimated that there are 19,473 low-income preschoolers in Milwaukee County (children under 5 years of age and in families with income below 150 percent of the federal poverty level). The labor force participation rates for mothers of this population did not change significantly from 1997 to 1999, and the increasing demand for child care anticipated under TANF was not evident in the 1997 and 1999 surveys. For low-income children under age 5, 49 percent had an employed mother in 1997 and the same percentage had an employed mother in 1999. The percentage of children with a mother working full-time, however, did increase from 22 percent in 1997 to 28 percent in 1999. (4)

• Of the 5,500 preschoolers in low-income families with a mother employed full-time (40 hours a week or more), 2,500 received a child care subsidy, 1,600 were in unsubsidized care with relatives, and the rest were in a combination of unsubsidized care settings. Another 3,500 low-income children had employed mothers working 20-39 hours a week, of which about 1,000 were in subsidized care (mostly in group centers), 1,200 in unsubsidized care (mostly with relatives), and 1,200 not in a care setting.

II. Who Is in Child Care

• Because most mothers of preschoolers are not employed full-time, the majority of Milwaukee County children under age 5 are not in full-time child care (40 hours or more a week), and less than half are in care for 20 or more hours per week for work-related purposes.

• Of the 65,766 children under age 5 in Milwaukee County, about 39,200 have mothers working at least 20 hours a week and about 26,300 are in child care for at least 20 hours a week.

• For children with mothers employed 20 hours or more a week, the percentage in full-time child care was 51 percent for children in low-income families, 46 percent for children in families with mid-range incomes, and 38 percent in the largely two-parent families with upper- range incomes.

• Low-income children with mothers employed 20 or more hours a week were the most likely to be in child care for 20 or more hours per week, with 75 percent of the children in care at least 20 hours.

Table 2:

• Of the 19,473 Milwaukee County children under age 5 from low-income families, 9,037 had a mother employed 20 or more hours per week. About half of these children (4,600) were in full-time child care.

Graph 2:

III. Type of Care Selected: Group, Relative or Non-Relative

The type of full-time care selected by employed mothers varies by income level of the family and the presence of a child care subsidy. This analysis examined the full-time care used for preschool children with mothers employed 20 hours or more a week. (Note: In the NSAF relative care does not include care by a parent or other family member living in the household. Only child care by non-household members is considered in the analysis.)

Table 3:

• For low-income children in care full-time, most (69 percent) were in group care with 54 percent in subsidized care and 15 percent in unsubsidized group care. In 28 percent of the cases, relatives were caring for the child.

• For mid-range income families, relatives were the first day care choice for full-time care, with 43 percent of children cared for by relatives.

• Children in upper-range income families were the second most likely (after the poor) to have their preschool children in full-time group care (51 percent), with most in unsubsidized care (40 percent).

Graph 3:

• Children in work-related care 20-39 hours per week were more likely to use relatives. The percentage of preschool children in relative care was 76 percent for poorer children, 56 percent for children in mid-range income families, and 45 percent for children in upper-range income families.

Graph 4:

The NSAF survey collected information on whether child care was subsidized, with subsidies most often cited as coming from the welfare department, social service agency or other agency, a sliding fee scale, or in a very few cases as an employer subsidy.

• Over half of low-income children in full-time care showed a child care subsidy, compared to a fourth of children in families with mid-range incomes.

• Almost all (97 percent) of subsidized care for the low-income population was in group settings.

IV. How Much Do Milwaukee County Parents Pay for Child Care

The NSAF collected information on child care expenses for each Milwaukee County family with children in day care.

• Many employed mothers in Milwaukee County have no child care expenses. This occurs most often in two-parent families where the spouse or other household members juggle child care responsibilities. In two-parent low-income families, 72 percent have no day care expenses, for mid-range income families 50 percent have no expenses, and for upper-range income families 29 percent have no expenses.

• Many low-income families receive child care subsidies that cover their day care costs. In lower-income single-parent families, 50 percent of preschool children with an employed mother had a child care subsidy in 1999.

• Of children with mothers employed at least half-time (20 or more hours a week), 48 percent in low-income families had no child care expenses paid by the family and another 11 percent had monthly child care costs of less than $100. In mid-range income families, 41 percent had no child care expenses paid by the family and another 5 percent had monthly costs of less than $100. In families with income at 300 percent of poverty or more, 26 percent had no child care expenses and another 6 percent had costs of less than $100 a month.

• Most employed families with preschool children in child care did not appear to be paying the rates listed by group and family care providers in the local child care market survey, where the vast majority of licensed providers receiving government subsidies reported rates exceeding $500 a month. Only 12 percent of children from mid-range income families and 7 percent of children from low-income families had employed mothers who paid more than $500 a month for child care for the entire family.

• Even in families with upper-range incomes, only 29 percent of children had employed mothers paying above $500 a month for child care.

Endnotes

1. The National Survey of America's Families collected information on children, adults (under age 65) and families living in non-institutionalized settings. Low- income households were oversampled. For a detailed description of the survey and methodology, see the Urban Institute's website.

2. In most cases these children are not enrolled in school. Four percent were enrolled in Head Start.

3. Family income levels were for the prior year. In 1996 income at 150 percent of poverty was $15,540 for a two-person family and $23,400 for a four-person family; income at 300 percent of poverty was $31,080 for a two-person family and $46,800 for a four-person family. In 1998 income at 150 percent of poverty was $16,275 for a two-person family and $24,675 for a four-person family; income at 300 percent of poverty was $32,550 for a two-person family and $49,350 for a four-person family.

4. Caution should be used in interpreting results between years as the survey sample size may result in a high margin of error.

Updated March 2008
Employment and Training Institute
School of Continuing Education
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Direct comments to eti@uwm.edu