Child Care Keeps Long Island Working
According to a study released by the Rauch Foundation in Garden City, the childcare industry on Long Island is one of the largest. It employs more than 17,000 workers and receives more than $600 million in revenue. Over 74,000 children are enrolled in early childcare provided by 7,600 small businesses.
More Long Islanders now work in this industry than in aerospace (4,600),
hotels (5,500), home building (12,200), or landscaping, horticulture,
and greenhouses (14,700). The study defined the childcare industry to
include childcare centers, nursery schools, and family daycare
businesses, but not informal arrangements with relatives.
Since more than 65 percent of mothers on Long Island with children under six are working, the importance of the childcare industry is self-evident. Quality early childhood education and appropriate developmental care are crucial. Therefore, the Child Care Councils of Nassau and Suffolk Counties and the three Childcare Partnerships here in Nassau, including our own, are dedicated to assuring that this industry maintains high standards.
Rauch statistics: 70 percent of women who work, full and part-time, have children under the age of 18. Thirty percent of them have children under 5.