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Childcare Availability and Employment: Evidence From Milwaukee County

Scott W. Hegerty

Associate Professor of Economics

Northeastern Illinois University

S-Hegerty@neiu.edu

Preliminary Results, October 23, 2016

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Childcare Locations and Socioeconomic Indicators, Milwaukee County (WI)

All licensed daycares (within 2mi of Milwaukee County) vs. Percent White

Licensed Family vs. Deprivation Index

(Daycare address source: State of Wisconsin, September 2016)

Deprivation =

First principal component of:

% in poverty

% over 25 w/o H.S. diploma

% SNAP recipients

Unemployment rate

(Constructed using �U.S. Census Data)

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Daycare Capacity per Census block group

All

Licensed Family

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Capacity per Population Below Age 6

All

Licensed Family

Source for all Socioeconomic Data:

U.S. Census American Community Survey (ACS) 2014 5-year estimates

858 Block Groups

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Getis-Ord “Hot Spots”� (Capacity per child under age 6)

All

Licensed Family

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Spatial Correlations

Univariate Moran's I

ALL

FAMILY

# Sites

0.330

0.343

# Sites/Under 6

0.101

0.179

Total Capacity

0.063

0.347

TotCap/Under 6

0.031

0.181

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Bivariate Moran's I

ALL_TC6

FAM_TC6

PercFem_FT

-0.046

-0.087

Part_Rate

-0.056

-0.163

Unemp

0.070

0.183

Deprivation

0.067

0.198

lnMedInc

-0.053

-0.098

PopDens

0.005

0.027

PercWhite

-0.145

-0.344

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Main Findings

  • Clusters of daycare providers in central-city, low-income areas of Milwaukee County�🡪 Particularly Licensed Family Providers�
  • Statistical analysis of capacity per child under age 6 (block-group level):
  • Family providers relatively more spatially clustered
  • Statistical “hot spots” (clusters) on near North Side�🡪 Family providers also on South Side
  • Bivariate correlations stronger for Family providers (but still low)
  • Positive association with unemployment and deprivation
  • Negative association with percentage white
  • Little association with full-time female employment.

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