Caring for Texas Children
Taking care of little ones is big business in Texas.
Child Care Facts:
- Texas is home to 9,091 licensed child care centers, 1,604 licensed in-home day cares, 7,488 registered in-home day cares and 3,895 listed family homes.
- The Texas child care industry is expected to be the 11th-fastest growing industry through 2010. Child care outpaces communications and public relations in job growth and falls just behind home health care and medical offices.
- About 762,500 Texas children under age 13 are in licensed child care.
Source: Texas Workforce Commission
Texas’ child care industry is one of the largest in the state. Quality child care not only benefits the caregivers and daycare owners but gives parents peace of mind and more productivity in their career endeavors.
“In this day and age, families cannot afford to live on just one income,” says Sonja Davis, administrative director for the Texas Licensed Child Care Association. With a higher-than-average divorce rate, Texas is home to many single-parent households.
The Cost and Benefits of Care
The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies shows Texas had 685,779 married parents of children under the age of six who both worked in 2007. There were 500,026 single parents in the work force with children under the age of six.
Parents pay an average of $5,564 a year for full-time child care at a center. Child care at a home-based facility costs slightly less at $4,628 annually. Full-time care for an infant can take up to 28 percent of the median annual income of a family, which was last estimated at $49,769.
“Daycare professionals are experts in taking care of preschool-aged children,” Davis says. “Children who have been in child care centers are more than ready for school.”
Children in day care have the added benefit of learning from their peers and developing their people skills early, and tend to transition to the social rigors of kindergarten easily, Davis says.
As a former owner of a daycare business, Davis says there’s a balance between providing a quality service and making it affordable. FN
Child Care Industry Influence
- The child care industry directly produces 109,000 jobs and $1.4 billion in wages.
- Economic activity indirectly generated by child care employees and suppliers includes 35,970 jobs and $933 million in wages.
- 4.9 million children aged 0-13 were living in Texas in 2006.
- Employment in the child care industry will increase by 32.8 percent by 2010, adding approximately 35,810 new jobs in Texas (an average of 5,115 a year).
Growth on the Horizon
The child care industry is expected to represent 1.1 percent of the total Texas employment by 2010 and contribute almost 1.9 percent of all new jobs.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the industry is expected to grow nationally by 18 percent. In Texas, the number of child care workers is expected to increase by 23 percent by 2014.
Source: Texas Workforce Commission