Child Care and the Stimulus

Child Care has been included in the 2009 Stimulus Package. As part of the new Stimulus Bill (ARRA), states and localities may be required to show economic impact of the stimulus funds. These two briefs have been developed to help state policymakers calculate the stimulus effects of increased child care spending on output and employment in the state economy. For information on the impacts of the recession on the child care sector and an example of how to calculate the impact of stimulus expenditures on child care output and employment, please see

• Warner, M.E. 2009. Recession, Stimulus and the Child Care Sector: Understanding Economic Dynamics, Calculating ImpactAs part of the new Stimulus Bill (ARRA), states and localities may be required to show economic impact of the stimulus funds. This brief has been developed to help state policymakers calculate the stimulus effects of increased child care spending on output and employment in the state economy..

For more information on how regional economic modeling works, and the output and employment multipliers for all 50 states, please see

• Warner, M.E. 2009. Child Care Multipliers: Stimulus for the States

For more information on ways in which child care can be supported by the stimulus initiative, please see

• Stoney, L. & A. Mitchell. 2009. Maximizing Resources from the Stimulus Package: Possible Strategies for Funding Quality Rating and Improvement Systems

Recent report on how states are spending their ARRA funds:

• Supporting State Child Care Efforts with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funds, by Karen Schulman and Helen Blank

For a complete set of analysis tables with multipliers by sector for all 50 states see

• Appendix tables of multiplier comparisons in:

  Liu, Zhilin, Rosaria Ribeiro and Mildred Warner, 2004. "Comparing Child Care Multipliers in the Regional Economy: Analysis from 50 States," Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Department of City and Regional Planning. The full paper has detailed tables on the model results for every state; a brochure, containing a brief summary of the paper, is also available.

More information on the regional economic importance of child care and a recent study of state and local economic impact reports.

For more information on economic development strategies to support child care see

• Warner, M., Adriance, S., Barai, N., Hallas, J., Markeson, B., Morrissey, T., & Soref, W. 2004. Economic Development Strategies to Promote Quality Child Care, Cornell University Department of City and Regional Planning: Ithaca, NY. (A brochure version is also available.)

Also see Professor Warner's PowerPoints:

• Child Care: Critical to Economic Recovery. Plenary Presentation at the State Child Care Administrators' Meeting, July 29, 2009
• Linking Child Care and Economic Development: Four Challenges. PowerPoint presentation from the State Child Care Administrators' Meeting, August 2003