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This report was published by the former Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA).
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Appendix C: Child care tables


The following tables are discussed in Section 4. Tables C1 to C3 reflect the results of multivariate analysis of use of child care among working families.

Table C1: Likelihood of parental care only, logistic regression results, working families, infant cohort
  Coefficient z-statistic
1–15 hours 1.053 5.77
16–34 hours -0.069 -0.24
35 hours or more (ref)    
Self-employed 0.908 7.04
Casual employee 0.258 2.75
Permanent employee (ref)    
Sometimes works weekends 0.484 3.69
Sometimes works evenings/nights 0.515 3.51
Cannot change start/finish times (ref)    
Can change hours with approval -0.067 -0.45
Flexible hours 0.122 1.23
(Non-response to self-complete/flexible hours question) 0.077 0.54
Incomplete secondary (ref)    
Complete secondary only -0.118 -0.86
Certificate/diploma -0.397 -2.65
Bachelor degree or higher -0.465 -3.10
Australian-born (ref)    
Not Australian-born 0.196 1.16
1 child (ref)    
2 children 0.052 0.36
3 children or more 0.523 2.14
Study child aged 3–6 months (ref)    
Study child aged 7–9 months -0.624 -4.57
Study child aged 10–11 months -0.876 -5.44
Study child aged 12 months or more -1.290 -7.56
Parent weekly income <$1,000    
Parent weekly income $1,000–1,499 -0.307 -1.77
Parent weekly income $1,500 or more -0.548 -3.55
Partner works 1–34 hours 0.340 1.52
Partner works 35–44 hours (ref)    
Partner works 45–54 hours -0.140 -0.99
Partner works 55 hours or more 0.244 1.87
Single parent -1.042 -4.13
Constant -0.966 -3.52
  (n=1,817)  
Log pseudo-likelihood -931.047  
Pseudo R2 0.1932  
Note: Unless otherwise noted the characteristics are for the primary carer.
'Ref' denotes 'reference category'. Significance levels: z=1.960 for p=0.05, z=2.576 for p=0.01 and z=3.291 for p=0.001.
Table C2: Child care type, multinomial logistic regression results, working families, infant cohort
 

No care

Formal care only

Formal and informal care

Co-
efficient
z-statistic Co-
efficient
z-statistic Co-
efficient
z-statistic
1–15 hours 0.748 4.04 -0.881 -3.52 -0.758 -2.22
16–34 hours -0.078 -0.30 -0.195 -0.78 0.331 0.98
35 hours or more (ref)            
Self-employed 0.695 4.35 -0.708 -3.57 -0.326 -1.19
Casual employee 0.116 1.22 -0.406 -1.93 -0.216 -0.91
Permanent employee (ref)            
Sometimes works weekends 0.470 3.50 -0.074 -0.61 0.168 0.91
Sometimes works evenings/nights 0.403 2.54 -0.332 -2.01 -0.326 -1.80
Cannot change start/finish times (ref)            
Can change hours with approval 0.137 1.16 0.041 0.18 0.127 0.55
Flexible hours 0.029 0.18 0.221 0.86 0.297 1.28
(Non-response to self-complete/flexible
hours question)
-0.002 -0.01 -0.407 -2.12 0.164 0.69
Incomplete secondary (ref)            
Complete secondary only -0.026 -0.13 -0.073 -0.21 0.863 2.21
Certificate/diploma -0.349 -2.40 0.052 0.19 0.286 0.80
Bachelor degree or higher -0.368 -2.01 0.168 0.47 0.516 1.09
Australian-born (ref)            
Not Australian-born 0.048 0.23 -0.313 -1.53 -0.768 -2.07
1 child (ref)            
2 children 0.173 1.24 0.368 2.12 0.261 1.11
3 children or more 0.543 2.22 0.160 0.98 -0.111 -0.34
Study child aged 3–6 months (ref)            
Study child aged 7–9 months -0.468 -2.75 0.569 1.56 0.381 1.25
Study child aged 10–11 months -0.620 -2.88 0.846 2.11 0.617 1.65
Study child aged 12 months or more -0.977 -5.08 0.895 2.50 0.940 2.72
Parent weekly income <$1,000            
Parent weekly income $1,000–1,499 -0.199 -1.35 0.355 1.94 0.258 1.23
Parent weekly income $1,500 or more -0.462 -3.04 0.259 1.25 0.221 1.09
Partner works 1–34 hours 0.255 0.99 -0.356 -0.93 -0.194 -0.37
Partner works 35–44 hours (ref)            
Partner works 45–54 hours -0.095 -0.67 0.089 0.62 0.221 1.05
Partner works 55 hours or more 0.343 3.04 0.163 1.06 0.526 3.13
Single parent -0.799 -2.91 0.246 0.93 1.364 5.42
Constant -0.517 -1.62 -0.910 -1.36 -2.671 -7.31
  (n=1,817)          
Log pseudo-likelihood -20,656          
Pseudo R2 0.12          
Note: The omitted category of the dependent variable is informal care only. The coefficients estimated are related to this omitted category. Unless otherwise noted the characteristics are for the primary carer.
'Ref' denotes 'reference category'. Significance levels: z=1.960 for p=0.05, z=2.576 for p=0.01 and z=3.291 for p=0.001.
Table C3: Likelihood of using school/preschool only, logistic regression results, working families, 4–5 year-old cohort
  Coefficient z-statistic
1–15 hours 1.175 8.55
16–34 hours 0.380 3.41
35 hours or more (ref)    
Self-employed 0.994 6.63
Casual employee 0.445 3.11
Permanent employee (ref)    
Sometimes works weekends 0.181 2.06
Sometimes works evenings/nights 0.084 0.73
Cannot change start/finish times (ref)    
Can change hours with approval -0.044 -0.24
Flexible hours 0.250 1.64
(Non-response to self-complete/flexible hours question) 0.112 0.82
Incomplete secondary (ref)    
Complete secondary only -0.139 -0.86
Certificate/diploma -0.222 -1.82
Bachelor degree or higher -0.134 -1.15
Australian-born (ref)    
Not Australian-born 0.265 1.52
Study child has younger siblings -0.191 -1.54
1 child (ref)    
2 children 0.379 1.87
3 children or more 0.474 2.91
Study child aged <4 years, 4 months (ref)    
Study child aged 4 years, 5–8 months 0.494 2.25
Study child aged 4 years, 9–11 months 0.659 4.44
Study child aged 5 years and over 0.843 5.06
Parent weekly income <$1,000    
Parent weekly income $1,000–1,499 -0.059 -0.40
Parent weekly income $1,500 or more 0.004 0.03
Partner works 1–34 hours 0.641 2.86
Partner works 35–44 hours (ref)    
Partner works 45–54 hours 0.018 0.11
Partner works 55 hours or more 0.153 1.30
Single parent -0.517 -1.85
Constant -2.973 -6.38
  (n=2,482)  
Log pseudo-likelihood -1,308  
Pseudo R2 0.12  
Note: Unless otherwise noted the characteristics are for the primary carer.
'Ref' denotes 'reference category'. Significance levels: z=1.960 for p=0.05, z=2.576 for p=0.01 and z=3.291 for p=0.001.
Table C4: Detailed child care use by family characteristics, families with working parent(s), 4–5 year-old cohort (row per cent)
  Parental
or
informal
care only
School
only
School
and other
care
Preschool
only
Preschool
and other
care
Formal
care only
Both
formal
and
informal
Age of study child
4 years and:              
3–5 months 3.8 1.1 0.5 19.6 31.9 29.3 13.8
6–8 months 2.5 1.6 2.8 26.1 38.1 19.2 9.6
9–11 months 2.0 8.2 7.6 21.3 37.5 15.5 7.9
5 years and over 0.8 18.7 22.8 13.2 28.3 10.0 6.3
Has younger siblings
No 2.6 7.6 9.5 19.9 35.2 16.5 8.7
yes 1.4 7.2 6.5 22.9 35.7 17.6 8.8
Number of children
1 1.5 6.0 10.2 10.9 36.7 19.8 14.9
2 1.3 7.1 8.7 20.7 36.8 17.2 8.1
3 or more 3.6 8.4 6.9 25.7 32.7 15.4 7.3
Family type
Couple 2.2 7.6 7.6 22.4 34.8 17.3 8.1
Single parent 1.5 6.3 13.7 11.0 39.8 14.0 13.8
Country of birth of primary carer
Australia 1.8 6.8 7.9 21.3 36.7 16.5 9.1
Not Australia 3.4 9.7 9.7 20.5 30.8 18.6 7.4
Highest education of primary carer
Incomplete secondary 3.8 6.2 9.3 23.2 35.2 14.0 8.4
Complete secondary only 2.5 7.8 5.9 22.5 37.9 15.8 7.6
Certificate/diploma 2.5 7.2 8.4 21.6 33.1 18.8 8.4
Bachelor degree or higher 0.5 8.3 8.5 18.7 37.5 16.8 9.7
Parental income (gross per week)
<$1,000 3.2 7.4 9.7 23.2 34.0 15.3 7.2
$1,000–1,499 1.8 7.4 6.0 20.1 37.9 18.0 8.8
$1,500 or more 1.6 7.0 9.1 20.3 34.3 17.7 10.0
Total 2.1 7.4 8.3 21.1 35.4 16.9 8.7
Source: LSAC 2004, Wave 1.
Note: Includes families of employed single parents and dual-working couples.
Table C5: Detailed child care use by job characteristics, families with working parent(s), 4–5 year-old cohort (per cent)
Job characteristics Parental
or
informal
care only
School
only
School
and other
care
Preschool
only
Preschool
and other
care
Formal
care only
Formal
and
informal
Hours worked
1–15 1.3 8.9 4.0 35.3 31.3 13.9 5.2
16–34 2.3 6.4 8.4 15.8 40.7 17.2 9.3
35 or more 2.9 7.0 13.6 11.3 32.8 20.3 12.3
Job type
Self-employed 2.6 11.4 3.9 36.3 25.7 15.0 5.2
Permanent employee 1.4 5.7 11.5 12.3 39.3 18.8 11.1
Casual employee 3.4 7.0 5.3 26.1 37.1 14.5 6.7
Evening/night work
Does not work evenings/ nights 1.3 8.0 8.3 20.0 35.1 17.9 9.4
Works evenings/nights 2.9 6.8 8.4 22.2 35.7 16.0 8.1
Weekend work
Does not work weekends 1.9 7.3 7.9 19.7 34.6 18.5 10.2
Works weekends 2.3 7.5 8.7 22.4 36.1 15.6 7.4
Flexibility of start/finish times
Flexible working hours 2.2 8.8 6.3 24.8 34.1 16.3 7.5
Can change hours with approval 1.0 3.9 11.4 14.7 39.9 18.4 10.7
Cannot change start/finish 2.0 6.7 9.4 17.0 39.8 15.2 9.9
Non-primary carer hours (couples only)
1–34 2.4 11.7 5.8 24.5 31.9 18.9 4.9
35–44 2.2 5.5 9.7 19.0 36.8 17.8 9.0
45–54 2.4 7.7 6.7 21.3 34.8 18.4 8.7
55 or more 2.1 9.4 6.2 27.7 32.5 15.5 6.8
Total 2.1 7.4 8.3 21.1 35.4 16.9 8.7
Source: LSAC 2004, Wave 1.
Note: Table includes families of employed single parents and dual-working couples. Unless stated, categories refer to the primary carer.

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Appendix D: Wellbeing multivariate results

Appendix B: Employment tables