EMBARGOED UNTIL: 10 A.M. EST, JANUARY 14, 1998 (WEDNESDAY) Public Information Office CB98-08 301-457-3030/301-457-3670(fax) 301-457-4067 (TDD) e-mail: pio@census.gov Lynne M. Casper 301-457-2416 While Moms Work, Dads or Other Relatives Care for 4 in 10 Preschoolers, Census Bureau Reports Families with working mothers most often rely on fathers, grandparents or other relatives for primary care of children under age 5 during working hours, according to findings in a report released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. The Internet address for this information is http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/childcare.html. Selected parts of these tables are also available on paper listing PPL-81. About 4.5 million (43 percent) of America's 10.3 million preschool children received primary care from relatives other than their mothers in the fall of 1994. Fathers cared for 18 percent; grandparents, 16 percent; and other relatives such as siblings, aunts or uncles, 9 percent. In addition, some children (6 percent) received care from their mothers at their workplaces or while they were working in the home. In contrast, 29 percent of preschoolers went to an organized facility such as a day care center (21 percent) or nursery school (8 percent). "When families are poor or receive government assistance or the mother works part time or on a nonday shift, they rely even more on relatives for child care and less on organized facilities," said Lynne Casper, the report's author. "In these cases, over half of the children are cared for by relatives other than their mothers." The report, entitled Who's Minding Our Preschoolers? Fall 1994 (Update), P70-62, made these other points: - Grandparents and other nonparental relatives provided about 35 percent of the primary care for African American preschool children or Hispanic children, who may be of any race, compared with only 21 percent for White children. - About 21 percent of White or Hispanic preschoolers received care from a nonrelative, either in the child's home or in the provider's home. Only 15 percent of African American preschoolers received care from nonrelatives. - Hispanic preschoolers (19 percent) were far less likely than either African American children or White children (about 30 percent each) to receive care in organized facilities, such as nursery schools or day care facilities. - Ten percent of preschoolers in poor families received primary care from their mothers who were working for pay in the home or away from home. - A third of children whose mothers worked full time were in day care, nursery school or preschool; when the mother worked part time the likelihood of such care dropped to 22 percent. - About 35.5 percent of children whose mothers worked day shifts were in center-based care; the likelihood of day care dropped to 21 percent when the mother worked a nonday shift. The data are from the fall 1994 Survey of Income and Program Participation. As in all surveys, the data are subject to sampling variability and other sources of error. Editor's Note: The Public Information Office currently is testing a new Internet server for displaying embargoed news releases and data sets. It is available to accredited media representatives only. The embargoed data sets can be found at this Internet address <http://www.census.gov/dcmd/www/media/mdaccess.html>. The temporary username and password are "emarra" and "pubinfo01." We would appreciate your comments about this site.-X-The Census Bureau pre-eminent collector and provider of timely, relevant and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. In more than 100 surveys annually and 20 censuses a decade, evolving from the first census in 1790, the Census Bureau provides official information about America's people, businesses, industries and institutions.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
