There is strong evidence that shows that universal community-based systems of high quality early childhood education and care are part of the backbone of strong economies: ECEC has short-term, medium-term and long-term economic and social impacts on children, their parents, the labour force, local economies and the larger economy.
November 27, 2012: Special report from TD Economics says investment in early years should be top priority
We can learn from our neighbours in Quebec who have seen tremendous returns on their investment in a universal child care system. Click here to learn more.
A CRRU Summary of "The benefits and costs of good child care: The economic rationale for public investment in young children" by Cleveland and Krashinsky entitled "Is child care a good public investment?" in English and en Francais
Robert Fairholm’s presentation on the "Economic Impacts of Early Learning and Care" and his report for the Centre for Spatial Economics the "Early Learning and Care Impact Analysis"
Oct 19 2013- Globe and Mail Series on child care
The Globe & Mail's completed a unprecendented series on child care in Canada which focused on building a better daycare system in Canada.
Notably, several articles addressed the benefits of investing in child care as well as crediting the progress that Quebec has made with $7/ day child care.
Better daycare for $7/day: One province's solution for Canada
The case for publicly funded child care in Canada
What the world can teach Canada about building better daycare
To lower inequality, boost spending on early childhood education
Basic Statistics
Why Canada can’t work without good child care: How early childhood education and care supports the economy, from the Child Care Human Resources and Research Unit. Click here for this excellent resource.
Canada
In 2009 the Canadian Chamber of Commerce released a resolution titled "Increasing Canada’s Productivity Through Early Childhood Development". They state that "the productivity of Canada’s labour force is suffering. Canada is losing its global competitive advantage. Investing in early childhood development (ECD) will augment Canada’s ability to compete globally".
Shamefully Canada currently spends only about half of what the United States and the United Kingdom do on early learning and care, as a percentage of the GDP. The
Scandinavian countries all spend five times as much, or more, and are reaping the benefits in greater employability for all parents, more taxes paid, enhanced
child development and lower costs of welfare and social services. To read the resolution, click here.
The Child Care Human Resources Sector Council released a report in 2009 entitled Literature Review of Socioeconomic Effects and Net Benefits: Understanding and Addressing Workforce Shortages in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Project. The report shows that investing in early childhood education and care not only benefits children and families, but it also creates the maximum possible jobs while passing the most revenue to government.
To read the report, please click here.
Ontario
On March 22nd 2013,the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care presented the Ontario Pre-Budget Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance
The OCBCC presented "[The] funding formula calls for huge cuts to child care funding for 18 communities in 2017. Cuts to child care funding are completely unacceptable. Many of these communities are among the most economically hard hit areas of Ontario – communities that can’t afford to lose child care funding."
Click here to read the submission.
In September 2010, the Centre for Spatial Economics just released a major Provincial analysis. The report provides a Cost-Benefit Analysis of Dr. Charles Pascal's vision for an Early Learning Program in Ontario. For more information, please click here.
The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care commissioned The Centre for Spatial Economics to write report estimating the potential impact of the provincial government’s threat to eliminate $63.5 million that supported child care fee subsidies for single and low-income parents in the March 2010 Budget. Their estimate of the cost to our economy:148 million
To read the report, please click here.
International Studies
Starting Strong II, by the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (2006) compares the spending on child care for 14 similar countries including the United States, the UK and Australia.
To read the report, please click here.
A report by John Bennet for UNICEF at the Innocenti Research Centre entitled Early Childhood Services in the OECD Countries: Review of the Literature and Current Policy in the Early Childhood Field. (2008)
For the full report, please click here.
For more information regards to economic benefits of child care, please click the following links;