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The Strange History of Employer-Sponsored Child Care: Interested Actors, Uncertainty, and the Transformation of Law in Organizational Fields (PDF)
By Erin L Kelly
American Journal of Sociology, 109, 3; November 2003, p.606-649

Summary: This article examines the development of two “family-friendly” employment benefits: dependent care expense accounts and employer-sponsored child care centers. Using historical research, a survey of 389 United States employers, and interviews with managers who make decisions about employee benefits, the history and diffusion of dependent care expense accounts is reconstructed. The spread of expense accounts is contrasted with the limited diffusion of child care centers that are sponsored by the employer and located at or near the workplace. In the sample of 389 establishments, 56 percent had set up dependent care expense accounts by 1997, whereas only 13 percent had set up child care centers. It is discussed why expense accounts spread rapidly and child care centers did not. It is demonstrated that organizations added dependent care expense accounts in response to changes in tax law, and, in particular, to the creative interpretation by benefits consultants. Although the tax break in the 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act was intended to spur employers to create child care centers, these programs remain rare. Contains 97 references.

Index Terms: Employer Sponsored Child Care, Employer Supported Child Care, Family Friendly Policies, On Site Child Care, Statistical Data, Child Care, Employer Supported Child Care, Tax Credits

Publisher: The University of Chicago

Publication Type: Reports (Descriptive)

Pages: 43 pages
Language: English
URL: http://www.soc.umn.edu/~elkelly/Kelly2003CCAJS.pdf

 
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