Child care

HILDA data show women’s job prospects improving relative to men’s, and the COVID changes might have helped

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, February 11, 2024
ACT, Woman, Workplace, Job satisfaction, Smoking, Child care, Household, Father, Female, Growth, Parent, Government, Hope, HILDA, Binge drinking, Mother, COVID, Employment, Statistics, Child, Male, Occupation, Ageing, Nursing

The latest HILDA survey shows Australia’s gender gap in employment continuing to close, with progress beginning on the earnings gap.

Key Points: 
  • The latest HILDA survey shows Australia’s gender gap in employment continuing to close, with progress beginning on the earnings gap.
  • Remarkably, the progress has continued notwithstanding the disruptions caused by COVID; there are indications they may even have helped.

Employment lifting

  • For men of that age, the proportion in paid employment has changed little during those two decades, fluctuating between 80% and 84%, allowing the gap in employment between men and women to narrow eight percentage points.
  • Most of the gain has taken place since 2009 when one in ten women of that age were in paid employment, a figure that has since climbed to one in four, not too far off the one in three men of that age employed.
  • While men remain well ahead in full-time employment, that gap is narrowing too.
  • If the gender gap in employment is to be eliminated, it is clear couples with children will need to share the load more equally.

Wages lifting

  • In 2001, women employed full-time earned on average 79% of what men earned.
  • Average female earnings have climbed from 66% of male earnings in 2001 to 75% in 2021.

How COVID might have helped

  • HILDA shows the proportion of employees working from home in 2020 and 2021 has increased substantially.
  • The proportion working any hours at home climbed from 25.1% in 2019 to 37.3% in 2021.
  • There are health risks from working from home while unwell and also career risks from working at home.
  • “Out of sight” can mean “out of mind” when it comes to promotions.

Some small steps on sharing the caring

  • The improvement accelerated slightly in 2020 and 2021, via both an increase in the hours worked on domestic chores by men and a slight decrease for women.
  • In 2021, mothers of dependent children were still spending 75% more time on unpaid housework and child care than their male partners.


Roger Wilkins receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

3 lessons from MP Karina Gould’s parental leave that could help all Canadian families

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 5, 2024
Policy, COVID-19, Parent, Family, MP, Legislation, Mother, Public sector, Research, Parental leave, Child care, EI, Unemployment benefits, Government, House, Organization, Child, Infant, Economy, Employment, Female, Development, Father, Commons, Tutoring

Like all MPs, Gould wasn’t eligible for parental leave when her first child was born in 2018.

Key Points: 
  • Like all MPs, Gould wasn’t eligible for parental leave when her first child was born in 2018.
  • She’s taking six months off, thanks to 2019 legislation that provides MP parents of newborns up to 12 months with paid parental leave benefits.
  • Yet there are key differences, and they offer three lessons on how parental leave could be redesigned for each and every Canadian parent.

Lesson 1: Boost eligibility

  • This is due to many factors, including restrictive eligibility criteria of 600 employment hours in the year before a child’s birth.
  • It’s time to rethink eligibility criteria so that more Canadians can benefit from parental leave benefits.

Lesson 2: Better wage top-ups

  • For most Canadians, however, parental leave is low-paid: only 33 to 55 per cent of wages, with a ceiling of $401 to $668 weekly and $63,200 annually.
  • Out of 36 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada has the lowest wage replacement rates for parental leave.
  • In Québec, which has a 70-75 per cent wage replacement rate, that number was 85.6 per cent.

Lesson 3: More flexibility

  • Finally, there are lessons about flexibility and choice, and what they mean in a post-pandemic world, where remote work has changed how people balance family life and paid work.
  • For Gould, this means taking a short post-partum leave and then combining parental leave with some remote work.
  • But there are precedents to build on, such as Ontario’s “right to disconnect” policy and EI’s Working While on Claim option.

Shining a spotlight

  • It should matter to all Canadians, because it shines a spotlight on the federal government’s long overdue promise to rethink and redesign parental leave policy.
  • A rethinking of parental leave should begin with clarifying what parental leave is.
  • Parental leave also needs to be integrated with other care policies, especially early learning and child-care policies.

Recognizing the value of care

  • The pandemic also illuminated the socioeconomic value of care and the care economy.
  • When she returns from her parental leave, she will be well-placed to advocate for more inclusive integrated care policies.


Andrea Doucet receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Playground’s Child Care Management Solutions Now Available Through Carahsoft GSA Schedule and Additional Contract Vehicles

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Partnership, Family, Child care, Carahsoft, GSA, Public, Bangladesh Administrative Service, Child, Trust (social science), Public sector

NEW YORK and RESTON, Va., Jan. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Playground , the child care management platform making excellent child care accessible to all, and Carahsoft Technology Corp. , the Trusted IT Solutions Provider®, today announced that Carahsoft has added Playground to its GSA Schedule contract, making the Playground child care management platform available to the Public Sector through Carahsoft and its reseller partners.

Key Points: 
  • NEW YORK and RESTON, Va., Jan. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Playground , the child care management platform making excellent child care accessible to all, and Carahsoft Technology Corp. , the Trusted IT Solutions Provider®, today announced that Carahsoft has added Playground to its GSA Schedule contract, making the Playground child care management platform available to the Public Sector through Carahsoft and its reseller partners.
  • “Our mission is to make excellent child care accessible to all, and our addition to Carahsoft’s GSA schedule will further that goal by bringing our solutions to the Public Sector.
  • Playground’s child care management software and application help child care centers of all sizes save money and eliminate time-consuming administrative work, while making families and staff happier.
  • “The ability to make accessible child care available to agencies through our reseller partners is crucial, and we look forward to growing our partnership with Playground.”
    Playground’s solutions are available through Carahsoft’s GSA Schedule No.

New tentative agreement rejected by Air Transat flight attendants

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 1, 2024
Remuneration, Service provider, CUPE, History, Child care, Flair Airlines, Transport, Air Canada, WestJet, Calm Air, Pivot Airlines, PAL, Air Transat, Air Canada Rouge, Negotiation, Education, YUL, Airport, YYZ, Library, Canadian North, Airline

MONTREAL, Feb. 1, 2024 /CNW/ - CUPE's Air Transat Component has announced that its 2,100 flight attendant members have rejected the tentative agreement reached on January 7.

Key Points: 
  • MONTREAL, Feb. 1, 2024 /CNW/ - CUPE's Air Transat Component has announced that its 2,100 flight attendant members have rejected the tentative agreement reached on January 7.
  • The previous collective agreement for these flight attendants, based at airports in Montreal (YUL) and Toronto (YYZ), expired on October 31, 2022.
  • On November 27, during general assemblies, the flight attendants adopted a strike mandate by a nearly unanimous vote of 99.8%, by far the highest tally in the history of CUPE's Air Transat Component.
  • The Air Transat Component is part of CUPE's Airline Division, which represents more than 18,500 flight attendants employed at Air Transat, Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge, Sunwing, WestJet, Encore, Calm Air, Canadian North, Pivot Airlines, Flair Airlines, PAL and Pascan.

Kiddie Academy® grows footprint as US child care needs expand

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
American Progress, Growth, Parent, Franchise Times, Child care, Climate, ECEC, Franchise 500, Trust, Kiddie

ABINGDON, Md. , Jan. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Kiddie Academy® Educational Child Care, a nationally recognized educational child care franchise, opened 23 new franchise locations, growing its footprint by nearly 8% year over year. Kiddie Academy's 2023 expansion included four new markets—Hawaii, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Utah—resulting in 327 Academies now operating in 37 states and Washington, D.C.

Key Points: 
  • , Jan. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Kiddie Academy® Educational Child Care , a nationally recognized educational child care franchise, opened 23 new franchise locations, growing its footprint by nearly 8% year over year.
  • "This is extremely important in the current climate, as more and more parents are seeking high-quality child care arrangements.
  • In September 2023, pandemic-era federal funding for child care centers ended with more than 3 million children nationwide losing access to child care.
  • Kiddie Academy aims to alleviate this impact by expanding into markets where high-quality educational child care is needed.

Report: Child Care Industry Struggling in Pandemic's Aftermath

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
The Conference Board, Economic development, Mother, Public policy, Census, CED, Child care, Consumer, Conference, COVID-19, Child, Workforce, Parent, Committee, CPI, Residential care

NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly one in five children in families using paid child care services stopped doing so during the pandemic, severely disrupting the child care industry.

Key Points: 
  • NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly one in five children in families using paid child care services stopped doing so during the pandemic, severely disrupting the child care industry.
  • While the drop in paid child care usage corresponds with a decline in the number of children of child care age, the report reveals that many other traditional economic, demographic, and child care market factors known to influence the use of paid child care do not adequately explain the industry's weak recovery.
  • Traditional economic, demographic, and child care market factors do not explain the extent of the decline in paid child care usage.
  • Other factors such as work-from-home, shifts in parental preferences, and a reduced supply of paid child care are plausible contributors to the weak rebound in the use of paid care.

Flexibility and Child Care Supports Continue to Drive Business Growth, Finds New 2023 Data from The Best Place for Working Parents®

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Geography, Parent, Partnership, Child care, Workplace, Organization, Parental leave, Workforce, News, Management

FORT WORTH, Texas, Jan. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Best Place for Working Parents®, the collaborative and expanding network of businesses across the U.S. committed to providing support for working parents through evidence-based strategies, has released their National Trends Report for 2023 in partnership with Empactiv Analytics.

Key Points: 
  • Among the businesses designated as the Best Place for Working Parents®, an impressive 96% provide the option of flexible work schedules.
  • Across the Best Place for Working Parents® top industries, backup child care, child care assistance, and parental leave policies are all benefits that can help companies stand out in the current labor market.
  • See how companies compare by size, industry, and region – read The Best Place for Working Parents 2023 National Trends Report here .
  • The Best Place for Working Parents network currently extends to ten states and 17 regions across the United States.

Telehealth makes timely abortions possible for many, research shows

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Patient, Research, American Journal, Telehealth, Child care, Travel, Public health, Pregnancy, Journal, Pressure, Medicine, Supreme court, FDA, Abortion, Birth control

For young people and those living on low incomes, telehealth makes a critical difference in getting timely abortion care.

Key Points: 
  • For young people and those living on low incomes, telehealth makes a critical difference in getting timely abortion care.
  • Nearly all the patients we surveyed had positive experiences with telehealth abortion: They were satisfied, trusted their telehealth provider, felt cared for and felt telehealth was the right decision.
  • Our research shows that for many patients, telehealth offers important benefits over abortion care from a clinic.
  • What’s next
    Our future research will look at the structural changes necessary to ensure that the benefits of telehealth abortion are available equitably.

Foundation Automotive of Wichita Falls Donates Over $30,000 to their Community in 2023

Retrieved on: 
Monday, January 29, 2024
Other Philanthropy, Fleet Management, Automotive, Other Automotive, Philanthropy, General Automotive, Fund Raising, Foundation, DAV, Heart, Health, Multimedia, Commerce, Culture, Partnership, Hospice, Woman, Meals on Wheels, Veteran, Alzheimer's disease, Meal, Human, Celebration, The Salvation Army, Child care, Growth, Toy

Foundation Automotive of Wichita Falls proudly recaps an extraordinary year of community engagement and philanthropic efforts throughout 2023.

Key Points: 
  • Foundation Automotive of Wichita Falls proudly recaps an extraordinary year of community engagement and philanthropic efforts throughout 2023.
  • View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240129042382/en/
    Foundation Automotive of Wichita Falls shares their extraordinary community engagement for 2023.
  • "Our commitment to the Wichita Falls community is at the heart of everything we do," said Kevin Kutschinski, owner of Foundation Automotive.
  • Further demonstrating their support for the Wichita Falls community, Foundation Automotive was present at the Chamber of Commerce Annual Celebration in March 2023.

Warburg Pincus and TA Associates Enter into an Agreement to Sell Procare Solutions to Roper Technologies

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, January 25, 2024
Warburg Pincus, Jo-Ann Stores, Corporate services, LLP, Partnership, Kirkland & Ellis, Software as a service, MIT Blackjack Team, Child care, Curriculum, Associate, Workflow, TA Associates, ROP, William Blair & Company, Education, Growth, Financial services

NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Warburg Pincus, a leading global growth investor, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to sell Procare Solutions ("Procare"), a leading provider of integrated child care center management software and payments processing, to Roper Technologies, Inc. ("Roper") (Nasdaq: ROP), for a total enterprise value of $1.86 billion. TA Associates ("TA"), a leading global private equity firm, also sold its minority interest in Procare as part of the transaction.

Key Points: 
  • TA Associates ("TA"), a leading global private equity firm, also sold its minority interest in Procare as part of the transaction.
  • Procare provides a broad, high-quality product suite that serves the unique and complex demands of more than 37,000 child care centers.
  • Founded in 1992, Procare is a true end-to-end solution that supports customers of all sizes, from single-center operations to complex nationwide enterprises.
  • William Blair & Company, LLC served as lead financial advisor and Raymond James & Associates, Inc. served as an advisor to Warburg Pincus.