Childcare policy in the liberal welfare states of North America

Linda A. White, Susan Prentice and Anika Ganness

Chapter 24 in Research Handbook on Social Care Policy, 2025, pp 380-394 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter focuses on the liberal welfare regimes of Canada and the United States. Childcare policies in both countries are similar, characterized by a strong reliance on markets to deliver care services, a significant proportion of which are comprised of for-profit providers. Both countries stand out among OECD countries in allowing a portion of providers to operate without a licence, thereby significantly varying the quality of childcare services. The overwhelming feminized workforce suffers from low remuneration and some sectors have a high employment turnover. In this childcare market, parents pay high costs for services, and lack of availability, with some areas characterized as ‘childcare deserts’. Higher income parents who pay more tend to have access to higher quality childcare, crowding out lower income families. Government subsidies do not fully cover all eligible families. And childcare services are poorly integrated with parental leave programmes. This chapter summarizes this patchwork system and its effects on families before briefly turning to policy changes that may signal a regime in flux in both countries.

Keywords: Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC); Liberal welfare regimes; Decentralized governance; Childcare markets; Childcare deserts; Canada and the United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781839103681
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