Fraser Institute News Release: Federal day-care program has resulted in little-to-no change for industry employment ...

TORONTO, Feb. 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Despite the federal government’s commitment to raising the labour force participation rate of women through the expansion of childcare, employment in the industry has not been boosted nor has female labour force participation, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

“To date, the federal government initiative to expand childcare and raise the labour force participation rate of women has produced few results, nor has the roll-out of day care accelerated employment in the industry,” said Jake Fuss, director of Fiscal Studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of A Case for Spending Restraint: How the Federal Government Can Balance the Budget.

The study finds that the federal government’s initiative to expand childcare and raise the labour force participation rate of women has produced little to no results, despite the federal government’s intentions.

“ gg” commented Grady Munro, co-author and policy analyst at the Fraser Institute.

The roll-out of day care, an area under provincial jurisdiction, has failed to accelerated employment in the industry. Meanwhile, female labour force participation has shown little change to no change, with critically, the most notable increase in participation having been for women in Quebec and women with older children—two groups unaffected by the federal childcare program.

This program was meant to be modelled after Quebec’s childcare program that started in 1997 with the promise of low-cost day care. However, Quebec today benefits from a hybrid system with about half of all children cared for in government subsidized non-profit day care, family-based caregivers, and subsidized for-profit day care centres.

“The problem with programs like day-care expanded at the federal level, is that at a certain point the provinces who adopted it are the ones left holding the bag when said program fails to provide as intended,” said Fuss.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Jake Fuss, Director, Fiscal StudiesFraser Institute

Grady Munro, Policy Analyst Fraser Institute

To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact:Drue MacPherson, Media Relations, Fraser Institute604-688-0221 ext. 721drue.macpherson@fraserinstitute.org

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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute’s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org