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October 1991

Child-care problems: an obstacle to work

Peter Cattan

The lack of affordable, quality child care was the reason an estimated 1.1 million young mothers did not seek or hold a job in 1986, according to data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. This article briefly reviews past research and presents newly available data on the extent to which young mothers report being out of the labor force because they cannot arrange for child care.

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