Introduction
Day Care Services have the NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) code of 624410. The NIACS definition of a day care center is "establishments primarily engaged in providing day care of infants or children. These establishments generally care for preschool children, but may care for older children when they are not in school and may also offer prekindergarten educational programs."
Someone other than an immediate family member today cares for approximately one-half of the children in the United States during some portion of each day. In two-thirds of two-parent homes, both parents work, providing a large and ever growing consumer base for the day-care industry. In addition, 12 million children, more than 20% of the children in the United States, live with single parents that needs childcare in order to work.
For profit businesses are only one of the several different types of day care that now exist with each type used by different groups within the day-care market. Many of the small child day-care businesses are home-based, or operated out of a privately owned home. By contrast, center-based operations tend to be larger in size and include franchise, on-site company-sponsored, cooperative and individually owned centers. Approximately 15% of employed mothers use center-based day care for their preschool children as their primary source of childcare. An additional 13% of working mothers use center-based care as their secondary source and use a baby-sitter or family member as their first choice. Surveys show that more affluent, better-educated families rely more on paid care and center-based care than lower income families, who rely primarily on relatives.
The market demand for childcare has also led to the development of chains of day-care facilities. Some of the chain leaders of day-care operations are Kinder-Care, founded in 1969, with more than 850 locations in 40........
