BALANCING THE FAMILY BUDGET - DIFFERENCES IN CHILD-CARE EXPENDITURES BY RACE ETHNICITY, ECONOMIC-STATUS, AND FAMILY-STRUCTURE

Objective. The cost of child care affects women's economic opportuniti es, limits children's chances to experience high-quality environments in their early childhood years, and reinforces economic and social ine quality. This paper examines several factors that may influence whethe r employed mothers purchase child care, and, among those who pay, how much they pay for child care services. It also investigates how these factors may be associated with the proportion of total family income a nd the proportion of the mother's earnings spent on child care. Method s. Whereas past research has relied primarily on cross-tabular techniq ues, this study uses logistic and OLS regressions to analyze data from the National Child Care Survey 1990. Results. Findings suggest that c ultural, economic, and kinship resources and the need for child care a re most important in determining whether an employed mother pays for c hild care. Family resources, cost of living, and availability of alter native providers, such as teenage children, are significant predictors of how much employed mothers pay for child care. Conclusions. It is r ecommended that policies should emphasize voucher programs over reimbu rsement for out-of-pocket expenditures.