Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in the Labor Market for Child Care Teachers

This article examines racial and ethnic discrimination in the child care teacher hiring process. We construct a unique data set that combines a résumé audit study of center-based providers with a follow-up survey of those in the original audit sample. Fictitious résumés were randomly assigned White-, Black-, and Hispanic-sounding names and submitted in response to real teacher job advertisements. The survey was then administered to capture the characteristics of children, teachers, and administrators within the center. These data reveal three key results. First, we find robust evidence of discrimination: Black and Hispanic applicants receive significantly fewer interview requests than observationally equivalent Whites. Second, our results are consistent with a model of customer discrimination: The racial and ethnic composition of the center’s customer base is correlated with the characteristics of job seekers receiving an interview. Finally, we show that states’ child care regulations mitigate the racial and ethnic gap in interview requests.

Children’s Bodies in British Columbia’s Child Care Regulations: A Critical Discourse Analysis

This paper contributes to discussions that challenge dominant thinking by deeply reflecting on children’s bodies as they are depicted in British Columbia’s Child Care Licensing Regulations. Using critical discourse analysis, the author highlights how techniques of power are embedded in this particular document by examining how power works to regulate, normalize, and discipline children’s bodies in early childhoodeducation. The paper describes how this government policy works to create and sustain common child care practices by exploring four questions about the organization of the regulations document to open alternative conversations about young bodies in early childhood practices.

The Impact of Regulations on the Supply and Quality of Care in Child Care Markets

We examine the impact of state child care regulations on the supply and quality of care in child care markets. We exploit panel data on both individual establishments and local markets to control for state, time, and, where possible, establishment-specific fixed effects to mitigate the potential bias due to policy endogeneity. We find that the imposition of regulations reduces the number of center-based child care establishments, especially in lower income markets. However, such regulations increase the quality of services provided, especially in higher income areas. Thus, there are winners and losers from the regulation of child care services. (JEL H75, J13, L51, L84)