U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration

Current

Population

Household Economic Studies

 Reports

Who’s Minding Our Preschoolers?

Fall 1994 (Update)

By Lynne M. Casper

C E N S U S B U R E A U P70-62

Issued November 1997

NOTICE TO USERS available which provide statistics tables, is available as PPL-81 for

on the child care arrangements for $27.00. To receive a paper copy, Last year, the Census Bureau preschoolers used by families with send your request for “PPL-81, announced its intention to offer employed mothers in the fall of Who’s Minding Our Preschoolers? more information in electronic for- 1994. These tables provide infor- Fall 1994 (Update),” along with a mat while reducing the number of mation such as: check or money order in the printed reports. This change is amount of $27.00 payable to now being implemented for the  The number of preschoolers Commerce-Census-88-00-9010, P70 Current Population Reports whose mothers were employed to U.S. Department of Commerce, series. Many P70 reports, such was 10.3 million. Bureau of the Census, P.O. Box as the Who’s Minding Our Pre- 277943, Atlanta, GA 30384-7943, schoolers? report, will no longer  29.4 percent of preschoolers

were cared for in organized or call our Statistical Information

be printed for each year in which child care facilities during their Office on 301-457-2422. A copy the data are collected. mothers’ working hours. of these tabulations will be made

available to any existing CPR P70 In order to keep you informed  Among children under 1 year of subscriber without charge, pro- of the major findings from the Sur- age, 18.3 percent were cared vided that the request is made vey of Income and Program for in organized child care facili- within 3 months of the issue date

Participation (SIPP), short data ties. of this update. Contact our Statis- updates will be produced in years  Family day care homes pro- tical Information Office on

in which there is no full report. vided care for 15.4 percent of 301-457-2422.

They will be available in both preschoolers of employed printed and electronic forms. Ad- mothers. For additional child care inforditionally, the detailed tabulations mation, 45.3 percent of that have been part of the printed  contact the Fertility and preschoolers Family Statistics Branch, on whose mothers were employed reports will be updated in electron- 301-457-2416, or via Internet part time were cared for in their ic form on the Internet. If you wish E–mail (lcasper@census.gov). own homes. to obtain the new tabulations for

fall of 1994, updating Who’s Mind-  Relatives provided care for 62.0 The data in the tables are from ing Our Preschoolers? (Current percent of preschoolers in poor the Survey of Income and Program Population Reports, P70-53), families while their mothers Participation. All survey data are please see the “Detailed Tabula- were working. subject to sampling variability as tions” section at the end of this well as survey design flaws, respon- update. DETAILED TABULATIONS dent classification errors, and data

The tables include 1 historical processing mistakes. The Census We hope this modification in table, 2 summary tables, and 12 Bureau has taken steps to minimize the format of the P70 series will detailed tables (90 pages), provid- errors. However, because of meth- provide users with more timely ing child care information for odological differences, use caution data on a wider variety of topics. preschoolers of employed mothers when comparing these data with If you have comments about this by several demographic charac- data from other sources. For inforchange or the P70 series in gen- teristics including, for example, mation on the source of the data, eral, please contact us on the region of residence, race, and the accuracy of the estimates, the Internet at: pop@census.gov, or poverty status. The electronic ver- use of standard errors, and the write to: Chief, Population Divi- sion of these tables is available on computation of standard errors for sion, U.S. Bureau of the Census, the Internet, at the Census Bu- estimates, see the section on

Washington, DC 20233. reau’s World-Wide Web site “Source and Accuracy” on the Internet (http://www.census.gov/). For (http://www.census.gov). Once on additional information, contact Vicki DATA HIGHLIGHTS the site, click on “Subjects A–Z,” Huggins, Demographic Statistical then on “Child Care.” Detailed tabulations based on Methods Division, on 301-457-4192

the Survey of Income and Pro- A paper version of these or via Internet E–mail (vicki.j.huggram Participation are now tables, along with related historical gins@ccmail.census.gov).