By 2010, about 85 percent of the U.S. work force will consist of parents, and the number of working women will exceed that of working men, according to a study sponsored by the National Child Care Association.
With that many parents working, the demand for child care figures to increase accordingly. The same study reported the private-sector child-care industry generates about $60 billion in annual revenue, and that figure has been growing at a rate of about 10 percent yearly since 1999.
Kiddie Academy, a private child-care firm that opened its doorsin Baltimore in 1981, has seen the private child-care sector grow over the years.
“The industry is growing tremendously,” said Fred Harms, vice president of franchise development for Kiddie Academy.
Wage and salary jobs in the child-care industry are projected to grow 38 percent from 2004 to 2014 period, compared with the 14 percent employment growth projected for all industries combined, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The reason: The number of children under age 5 is expected to increase at a faster rate than in previous years.
Several parenting trends have led to the child-care boom, Harms said. People are choosing to wait longer to have children, and they?re having fewer children, so they have more resources per child, Harms said.
“Today?s parents are different from the baby boomers,” Harms said. “They?re constantly looking for quality programs ? they want more than just a baby-sitter.”
Kiddie Academy, with headquarters in Abingdon, began franchising in 1992 and has become the nation?s third-largest child-care franchisor. There are 88 locations operating in 20 states, and about 60 more learning centers are in development.
The learning centers provide child care for children ages 6 weeks to 12 years old, offering education, social and physical activities.
Kiddie Academy targets middle- and upper-income parents, Harms said. According to the National Child Care Association study, families with two working parents earn about $100 billion more in wages per year than families in which one parent opts to stay home.
“The demand for high-quality, education-based child care is only going to increase in the coming years,” Harms said.
Maryland parents will deal with child-care issues in the coming years. About 75 percent of children under age 12 ? more than 650,000 children ? might require child care while their parents are at work by 2011, according to the Maryland Committee for Children.
