Child care, women's labour market participation and labour market policy effectiveness in Canada

This article explores the connection between child care, active tabour market policies, and women's tabour market participation. Through comparative analysis, it demonstrates that the presence of child-care services has positive tabour market effects on women's labour market participation. The article also discusses the current status of child-care policies and programs in Canada in light of these observed policy effects. It demonstrates the poor linkages between programs and services for children and tabour market policies in Canada. It offers specific suggestions as to how governments and employers could improve the delivery and funding of child-care services to respond to patterns of women's tabour market participation.