SUPPLY-AND-DEMAND IN EARLY-CHILDHOOD SERVICES

Two surveys-a mail survey of a stratified random sample of 387 agencie s providing early childhood services and a telephone random digit dial ing (RDD) survey of 988 parents of children ages newborn through 8 yea rs in Pennsylvania-addressed the question of supply and demand for ear ly childhood services. Over all forms and circumstances, the supply of early childhood services appears to meet the demand, but the data ind icates that existing services do not meet the needs of many parents wi th respect to the quality, convenience, stability, and cost of such se rvices. Specifically, agency estimates suggested that enrollments appr oached capacity for full-day and preschool services but not other type s. It was estimated that approximately one fourth of all nonemployed m others and one half of low-income nonemployed mothers said the supply of affordable services was inadequate and a barrier to seeking employm ent, education, or job training. Three out of four (76.1%) infants (bi rth to 2 years) and one out of three (35.2%) young children (3-5 years ) in services were in unlicensed settings, whereas 4.8% of infants and 7.4% of 3- to 5-year-olds in services were cared for by an older chil d. One in five parents who used any nonparental service regularly used more than one service to meet their needs. Low-income parents who mus t work full time had limited access to educational preschool services because most preschools operated only half-day programs. Six percent o f all parents using services and 12.5% of users of more than one servi ce said transportation was a problem, and 21.2% of the parents of infa nts and 8.8% of the parents of 3- to 5-year-olds changed their main se rvice within the last year, mainly because the service terminated or b ecause the parents wanted better quality, convenience, or lower cost.