When comparing national economic data to state and local administrative data on child care, study teams should pay close attention to the definition and coverage of the sector according to each data source. While national data sources can provide points of comparison for the number of child care establishments and employment, the data are not available by type of care. National data sources provide only the aggregate number of establishments and do not distinguish between type of care (center or family care providers) or licensed and unlicensed care.
National economic data are available in two main categories: employer and non-employer establishments. The economic data include number of establishments, employment, gross receipts, and annual payroll. National data sources vary in coverage and definition of the child care sector. For instance, the data from the Occupational Employment Survey (OES) is not comparable to other sources described in this section because the data are collected based on occupation, not the industry. The OES is a smaller survey that excludes the self-employed. Although the County Business Patterns and Economic Census do not include the self-employed, these two sources are comparable with the US Census Nonemployer Statistics Series, and thus, can be added to reach an estimate of the total number of tax paying child care providers.
| 2002 NAICS 624410 Child Day Care Services Comprised of establishments primarily engaged in providing care to infants and/or children. These establishments generally care for preschool children, but may care for older children when they are not in school, and/or offer pre-kindergarten programs. These establishments include babysitting services, child day care centers, family day care services, Head Start programs (not part of elementary school system), nursery schools, pre-kindergarten centers (not part of elementary school system), and preschool centers. SIC 8351 Child Day Care Services |
The data provided by the these national data sources are protected by the US Code on confidential information disclosure, therefore, some of the data might not be available at the local level, depending on the size of the child care sector in a particular location. Most national economic data sources use the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) or the Standards Industry Classification (SIC) definition of child care services.
The following is a detailed description of national economic data sources for child care:
ECONOMIC CENSUS collects survey data of more than 5 million businesses across the United States and federal administrative data from the Internal Revenue Services (IRS). Federal administrative data are used to supplement the data for small employers and non-employer firms. The definition of ‘‘small’’ employer firms varies across sectors. ‘‘Small’’ firms are generally single establishment companies that meet specified minimum annual sales (usually $1,000) and maximum payroll. The number of employees varies across sectors; in the sectors derived from the NAICS services sector, the ‘‘small’’ companies have 1 to 4 employees. Nonemployer establishments are comprised primarily of businesses filing IRS Form 1040, Schedule C, for sole business proprietors. The child care sector is defined according to the NAICS 624410 Child Day Care Services. Estimates based on geographic areas are available at the national, state, county, metropolitan area, and zip code levels, depending on disclosure rules described earlier. The data available from the Economic Census include gross receipts, number of establishments, number of employees, and annual payroll. The data are available every five-years and the last year available is 1997.
The URL address is: http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/econ97.html
COUNTY BUSINESS PATTERNS (CBP) data are taken from the Business Register, the Census Bureau's file of all known single and multi-establishment companies. The data also are extracted from the Annual Company Organization Survey, the Economic Censuses, the Annual Survey of Manufactures, and Current Business Surveys, as well as administrative records of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Social Security Administration (SSA), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The child care sector is defined according to the NAICS 624410 Child Day Care Services. The data available from CBP include number of establishments, number of employees, and annual payroll. Estimates based on geographic areas are available at the national, state, county, metropolitan areas, and zip code levels, depending on disclosure rules described earlier. The data are available every year and the last year available is 2001. The URL address is: http://www.census.gov/epcd/cbp/view/cbpview.html
US CENSUS BUREAU NONEMPLOYER STATISTICS is extracted from administrative records of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and is comprised primarily of sole proprietorship businesses filing IRS Form 1040, Schedule C. The data are provided in US, state, metro areas, and county formats. Until 1997, this data was part of the Economic Census, however, in 1998 the Nonemployer statistics became an annual series and it is available up to the year 2001. The child care sector is defined according to the NAICS 624410 Child Day Care Services. The data available from the Nonemployer series include the number of establishments and earnings. Estimates based on geographic areas are available at the national, state, county, and metropolitan areas. The URL address is: http://www.census.gov/epcd/nonemployer/
| OCCUPATIONAL EMPLOYMENT CATEGORIES FOR EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION:
11-9031 Education Administrators, Preschool and Child Care Center/Program 39-9011 Child Care Workers 25-2011 Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education |
COVERED EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES (CEW), formerly known as the ES-202, is a program of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs). The CEW collects data on employment and wages for workers covered by State Unemployment Insurance (UI) laws and Federal workers covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. Publicly available files include data on the number of establishments, monthly employment, and quarterly wages, by NAICS industry and by geographic area. Estimates based on geographic areas are available at the national, state, county, and metropolitan area levels. The data also are aggregated to annual levels. The CEW data are considered by many to be the most accurate data source because CEW estimates are annual averages, while the Economic Census and County Business Patterns are only point-in-time estimates. The CEW program does not include data on nonemployer establishments (self-employed). The data are available every year and the last year available is 2001. The URL address is: http://www.bls.gov/cew/home.htm
OCCUPATIONAL EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS (OES) data are collected through an annual mail survey designed to produce estimates of employment and wages for specific occupations. The OES survey is a federal-state cooperative program between the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs). The OES program collects data on wage and salary workers in non-farm establishments in order to produce employment and wage estimates for over 700 occupations (self-employed persons are not included in the estimates). The OES program produces these occupational estimates by geographic area and by industry. Estimates based on geographic areas are available at the national, state, and metropolitan area levels. The OES program surveys approximately 400,000 establishments per year, taking three years to fully collect the sample of 1.2 million establishments. The data collected for early care and education are available in three different occupational categories: child care administrators - in the management occupations category, child care workers - in the personal services category, and preschool teachers - in the education services category. The URL address is: http://www.bls.gov/oes/home.htm
IMPLAN REGIONAL ECONOMIC MODELING is a software program commonly used for the regional economic analysis of the child care sector. IMPLAN allows the user to build economic models to estimate the effect of economic changes in states and counties. The program includes data for 528 industrial sectors (4 digit SIC in manufacturing and 2-3 digit for other sectors) including child care. Data are available for states and counties, and ZIP code areas within the US. The IMPLAN data are primarily based on the Covered Employment and Wages Program (CEW), but the data are adjusted to account for the self-employed, based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and other sources. Even after adjusting for the self-employed, IMPLAN’s estimate for employment is much lower than estimates using County Business Patterns and Nonemployer statistics (see Table B1). The data available for the child care sector include gross receipts, employment, and employment compensation. The URL for the IMPLAN software group is: http://www.implan.com/products.html
OTHER RECOMMENDED CHILD CARE DATA SOURCES
Several organizations also have comprehensive early care and education databases. Some of the databases available on the Web include:
The National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC) “Searchable Database” provides data for child care subsidies, state demographics, child care licensing, and program enrollment and participation. This database provides information on child care in U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The data are available at: http://www.nccic.org/
The National Institute for Early Education Research also collects, archives and disseminates state level data for early care and education. The State Databank is available at: http://nieer.org/states/
KIDS COUNT also offers several national and state-by-state databases to track the status of children in the US and offers two databases online. The databases include an index of child well-being used to rank states and supplemental data on education, health, and economic conditions for each state, and allow the user to view data on Age and Sex, Race, Hispanic Origin, Living Arrangements, Income and Poverty, Employment, Language, Disability Status, Parental Employment, Neighborhood Characteristics and Child Care Use. The data are available at: http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/