Volume 27, Number 1 (Winter) 1992
Blau, David M. 1992. "The Child Care Labor Market." Journal of Human Resources 27(1):9-39.
This study provides the first systematic analysis of the labor market behavior and characteristics of child care workers in the United States. A nationally representative sample of over 4,000 child care workers from the 1977-87 March Current Population Surveys is used to provide an analysis of the characteristics of child care workers and to estimate a model of wages. The results indicate that child care workers' wages are generally unaffected by government subsidies and regulations, suggesting that the supply of child care labor is relatively elastic. Wages of child care workers have remained constant relative to other workers' wages from 1976-86 despite substantial real increases in child care subsidies. Relative wages of different classes of child care workers have also remained constant.
The author is an associate Professor of Economics and Fellow of the Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He thanks Matthew Klena for extremely helpful research assistance; William Prosser, Ann Segal, Philip Robins, and Jill Kagan for help in collecting data; three referees for useful suggestions; and Betsy Pierce for typing. He claims responsibility for opinions and errors. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning in June 1992 through June 1995 from the author at the following address: Department of Economics, CB#3305, Gardner Hall, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C., 27599-3305.
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