HOW ARE WE USING CHILD CARE?
The results of the 2005 Child Care, Australia Survey were released in May. The survey collected information about children aged 0-12 years, and their families, regarding their use of formal and informal child care, and requirements for additional child care during the four week period prior to the survey. Information was also collected on patterns of attendance, child care costs, the use of the Child Care Benefit, parental income and working arrangements used by parents to help care for their children.
Findings for New South Wales from the survey include:
- 517,500 (46%) children aged 0-12 years received some type of child care - formal and/or informal - in the reference week.
- Formal care was used by 20% (223,000) of children, and informal care by 35% (391,300) of children in the reference week.
- Long day care was the most commonly used formal child care, used by 10% (110,000) of children, followed by after school care programs, which were used by 7% (73,200) of children.
- Grandparents were the main informal carers.
- Work arrangements - such as flexible working hours and permanent part-time work - were used by 73% of employed mothers and 35% of employed fathers to care for their children.
The 2005 Child Care Survey is a continuation of a series of surveys on the topic of child care. The publication presents a range of time series data from these surveys. Child Care, Australia, 2005 (cat. no. 4402.0) is available free of charge from the ABS web site.
For further information contact Heather Crawford on (02) 6252 5742, or the ABS National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070, email client.services@abs.gov.au.
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