Child Care Reform and Labour Market Participation by Women

Abstract

Reforms to the Commonwealth Government's Children's Services Program in the 1996 and 1997 Budgets have attracted considerable comment. Much of this comment has been predicated on the basis of a direct and causal link between changes to child care and changes in the participation of women with young children in the labour force. Evidence of changes to the labour market participation of women is very limited. Furthermore, the relationship between the labour market participation of women and child care is complicated by a range of other influences which makes drawing simple conclusions difficult.