A Strategic Assessment of the Children's Services Industry

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STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT OF THE CHILDREN’S SERVICES INDUSTRYWomen’s labour force participation rates have risen steadily in recent decades (Figure 2.5,below). Almost 60 per cent of women between 15 and 64 now participate in the labourmarket (ABS, 2008a) and women make up 45 per cent of the Australian labour force (ABS2006a). The increase in women’s employment has primarily been in part-time employment;women’s full-time employment rate has increased only slightly. While men’s part-timeemployment rates have also risen, most men continue to be employed full-time.The growth in employment of mothers of young children has been particularly marked: morethan 60 per cent of mothers of dependent children now have paid jobs, compared with 46 percent in 1985 (Campbell and Charlesworth 2004, 77). Participation in paid work rises rapidlyas children grow older. Approximately 46 per cent of mothers are employed when theiryoungest child is less than five years; 66 per cent when the youngest child is aged five to nineyears; and 70 per cent when the youngest is ten to fourteen years (FaCS and AIFS 2005, 11).Correspondingly, the number of women with children who are employed has increased. Therate at which mothers are engaged in employment increases with the age of their youngestchild (see Table 2.1). Thus, 35 per cent of mothers in couple families are employed whentheir youngest child is less than one year old; this increases to 59 per cent among mothers of4-5 year olds. The increase is largely due to increases in full and long part-time hours work,as employment in shorter part-time hours (less than 25 hours) remains at around one quarterfor all child age brackets. Not surprisingly, lone mother’s employment rates are lower thanthose of couple mothers.Table 2.1: Australian Mothers’ Employment Rates, 2001Couple mothersLone MothersAge of Hours per weekNot in Hours per weekNot inyoungest 35+ 25 to 34 less than employment 35+ 25 to 34 less than employmentchild25250 8 4 24 65 4 2 9 861 14 7 28 52 6 3 14 772 16 8 28 48 9 4 16 703 19 9 28 45 11 5 19 654 to 5 21 10 28 41 13 6 20 606 to 13 29 14 27 30 21 9 23 4814 to 18 38 14 22 25 37 11 18 34Total 24 11 26 39 20 8 19 53Source: Campbell and Charlesworth, 2004: A2.8In thinking about services for the early years, it is important to note that, despite the focus onmaternal labour force participation, many children grow up in households in which no parenthas employment. Australia has a much higher proportion of such children than do otherOECD countries (Figure 2.6).5
STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT OF THE CHILDREN’S SERVICES INDUSTRYFigure 2.5: Australian Labour ForceProfile: 1978-2008% Population over 1580604020Women01978 1988 1998 2008Source: 2020 Summit, 2008Men1978 1988 1998 2008Figure 2.6: Percentage of working agehouseholds with children without anemployed parent, OECD countries, 2000JapanPortugalSwitzerlandAustriaUnited StatesGreeceSwedenCanadaFinlandItalyBelgiumDenmarkSpainNorwayNetherlandsFranceIrelandNew ZealandCzech RepublicUnited KingdomGermanyPolandAustraliaHungary0 5 10Source: 2020 Summit, 20089.5%Together this demographic data provides a complex picture of Australian families need foreducation and care for children in their early years. More mothers are employed, morefamilies have a single parent, and more households are made up of more complex families.Women are more likely to be having children later in life when they have already establisheda career. As a result, more households require care for children in their early years. At thesame time, policy which focuses on the needs of families with employed parents, risksneglecting the education and care needs of the large proportion of children whose parents donot have employment.2.4 Current featuresECEC provision and administrationCommonwealth, State/Territory and (to varying degrees) local governments all play a role inECEC, alongside non-profit organisations, charitable groups and private businesses. The splitbetween services such as preschools and kindergartens (deemed to be ‘educational’ and childoriented)and long day care and family day care (regarded as providing ‘child care’ for thechildren of working parents) has historical roots going back to the nineteenth century. TheCommonwealth became involved in ECEC in 1972 with the introduction of the Child careAct. Subsidies were tied to the employment of trained teachers and nurses and could be paidonly to non-profit long day care centres. The Child care Act embodied the deep split between‘care’ and ‘education’. Historically, preschool has been the province of the States although,for a period between the mid-1970s and the mid-1980s, Commonwealth funds were directedto preschools as well (Brennan 1998).Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, parallel systems of ‘care’ and ‘education’ developed aroundAustralia (McDonald, 2002: 197). Most State governments provide extensive access topreschool as well as overseeing child care licensing. The Commonwealth government has6
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