Dependent care reimbursement accounts and workplace-funded childcare access

In 2014, 54 percent of state and local government workers and 36 percent of private industry workers had access to dependent care reimbursement accounts. Only 13 percent of state and local government workers and 10 percent of private industry workers had access to workplace-funded childcare.

Fifty-eight percent of private industry workers in management, professional, and related occupations had access to dependent care accounts in 2014. By comparison, 18 percent of private industry workers in service occupations had access.

Access to workplace-funded childcare varied among worker groups. Union workers, for example, had higher rates of access than did nonunion workers. In 2014, 15 percent of private industry union workers had access to workplace-funded childcare, compared with 10 percent of nonunion workers.

Of workers employed by junior colleges or 4-year colleges and universities, 64 percent of state and local government workers and 78 percent of private industry workers had dependent care accounts. In contrast, 27 percent of both state and local government workers and private industry workers had access to workplace-funded childcare.

These data are from the National Compensation Survey-Benefits program. For more information, see Access to dependent care reimbursement accounts and workplace-funded childcare by Eli R. Stoltzfus in the January 2015 edition of Beyond the Numbers. A dependent care reimbursement account allows employees to use some of their pretax salary to pay for dependent care. Workplace-funded childcare covers the full or partial cost of caring for an employee’s children in a nursery, day care center, or by a childcare worker.