The Effects of Universal Preschool: Children’s Learning and Mothers’ Earnings

Over the past 15 years, the share of 4-year-olds who are U.S. residents attending public preschool has more than doubled to 33 percent.¹ A growing number of cities and states have dedicated resources to establish or expand preschool programs, with policymakers frequently citing the impact that preschool participation has on school readiness.² Preschool attendance has been shown to improve children’s academic and socio-emotional skills, preparing them for kindergarten and beyond.³ Research also shows that effective preschool programs benefit children from disadvantaged families the most, providing those children with a nurturing environment for healthy development.⁴

^]

 Moreover, along with these important educational benefits, public preschool also allows some parents to re-enter the labor force or increase the number of hours they work, providing a decided boon to families’ economic well-being. That has been the experience in Washington, D.C., where parents—specifically mothers—have returned to or entered the workforce in significant numbers since the city expanded to universal preschool.

Unfortunately, that is not the case for millions of parents throughout the United States, who report cutting back on hours or making career sacrifices due to challenges related to child care.⁵ Since private tuition for high-quality, full-day preschool can cost many thousands of dollars per year, free public preschool has the potential to significantly increase take-home pay for parents.

In 2009, Washington, D.C., began an ambitious expansion that offers two years of universal, full-day preschool across the city’s public schools, public charters, and some private preschool programs administered by community-based organizations. As of 2017, approximately 9 out of 10 of the District of Columbia’s 4-year-olds and 7 out of 10 of the city’s 3-year-olds were enrolled in publicly funded preschool through the expansion. 

While policymakers introduced universal preschool in the District of Columbia with the goal of improving school readiness, young parents soon found those two years of free, high-quality child care to be an economic benefit.⁶ On that premise, this study estimates the effect that the city’s universal preschool program has had on the city’s maternal labor force participation rate in the years since the policy was enacted.

This report focuses on maternal labor force participation—in this case, mothers with a child younger than 5 years old—because most frequently, the parent who is on the margin of participating in the labor force is female.⁷ For the purposes of this report, the term “young children” refers to those under 5 years old, and the term “maternal labor force participation rate” refers to the share of women whose children are under age 5 and who are either working or actively seeking employment.

Some of this study’s key findings include the following:

• In the years since Washington, D.C., began offering two years of universal preschool, the city’s maternal labor force participation rate has increased by about 12 percentage points, with 10 percentage points attributable to preschool expansion.
• District of Columbia mothers with young children now participate in the labor force at about the same rate as District of Columbia mothers whose children are in elementary school.
• Maternal labor force participation increased among both low-income and high-income families. Maternal labor force participation was unchanged for middle-income families during the study period and is examined below.
• Women with young children also saw large increases in employment, with boosts to full-time work for married women and part-time work for unmarried women.⁸

These results suggest that two years of universal, full-day preschool is associated with a large positive effect on maternal labor supply—comparable in magnitude to the impact found in studies of universal preschool programs in other countries. On a national scale, policies that support maternal labor force attachment could contribute to faster growth in gross domestic product (GDP); stronger financial security for young families; and fewer career sacrifices by women, who assume a disproportionate share of their families’ care responsibilities.

For these reasons, among others, the United States should consider universal preschool and expanded child care assistance as part of a broad economic growth agenda. Providing full-day, year-round child care for working parents will benefit millions of families, increase the lifetime earnings and savings of women, and bring women’s labor force participation rates into line with women’s rates in other advanced economies.