FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
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April 23, 1998
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TREASURY RELEASES CHILD CARE REPORT
The Treasury working group on child care today delivered to President Clinton a report on child care from Secretary Robert E. Rubin. The report, Investing in Child Care, discusses what businesses can do to promote access to affordable, high quality child care for their employees.
"This report carries an important lesson: investments in child care can pay off in real dividends for employers and employees," said Secretary Rubin. "As this report attests, providing access to child care not only benefits the individual, but it also benefits the company by enabling it to attract and retain the best people. Addressing child care problems is critical to the well-being of our economy as we enter a new century."
Before the presentation of the report, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles discussed the findings with the group of business and labor leaders from across the country who have been actively involved in promoting child care at their own companies. Many businesses have found that the advantages of child care programs and workforce flexibilities are felt not only by employees, but by the company's bottom line as well.
The Treasury report looks at a number of areas beyond on-site care in which employers can further help their employees with child care, including: resource and referral programs; flexibility for working parents; corporate partnerships; and out of school care.
"I encourage businesses to draw lessons from the best practices presented in the report to help determine what best meets their needs going forward," Secretary Rubin said. "By identifying and publicizing programs such as the ones contained in this report, we hope to replicate these successes around the country in large and small businesses."
The report comes in response to President Clinton's request last year that Secretary Rubin convene a group of business and labor leaders to focus on best practices in the private sector and public-private partnerships which address child care problems facing working parents. The report is available on the Internet or from the National Child Care Information Center; their phone number is (800) 616-2242.
The members of Treasury's working group on child care are: First Bank of Colorado CEO Doug Price; General Converters & Assemblers president and CEO George Stinson; AFL-CIO president John Sweeney and executive vice president Linda Chavez-Thompson; Eli Lilly and Co. chairman and CEO Randy Tobias; Travelers Group CEO Sandy Weill; and Marcy Whitebook, national co-director of the Center for the Childcare Workforce.
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