Factors affecting employment in related occupations of 1975-76 completors of secondary occupational child care programs in Virginia

The purpose of this study was to identify variables related to the employment of secondary occupational child care program completors in training related occupations. Research questions which the study sought to answer were: What is the present employment status of the completors? What proportion of the employed completors are in training related occupations? What proportion of the unemployed completors have been employed in a child care related job at some time since their training? What are the main reasons for non-employment in training related occupations and part-time employment? What is the relationship between employment status and the variables of marital status, number of children, perceived availability of jobs, assistance in job placement, reasons for occupational choice, opinions of quality of training, self-reported academic achievement, continuing education, salaries, and willingness to relocate.

The subjects for the study were the total population of 1975-76 completors of occupational child care programs in Virginia. A questionnaire was designed for gathering data to fulfill the purpose of the study. Each of the program completors was mailed a letter which explained the purposes of the study, a questionnaire, a small pencil, and an addressed stamped return envelope. All envelopes to the subjects were hand addressed. A response rate of 68 percent was obtained from the 282 subjects who presumably received the questionnaire.

The techniques used in the statistical analysis were tabulations, summarization of responses, and rank order of responses. Chi square was used to determine the probability of a relationship between variables. A significant relationship was revealed between employment status and the variables of marital status, number of children, perceived availability of jobs, self-reported academic achievement, continuing education, salaries received by employed respondents and salaries expected by unemployed respondents, and willingness to relocate.

Major findings of the study were: 1) Forty-two percent of the respondents were employed; 2) 28 percent of the employed respondents were in related occupations; 3) continuing education was the reason cited most frequently for non-employment in related jobs; 4) the percent of married respondents who were employed was almost equal to the percent of single respondents who were employed; 5) 87 percent of the respondents who had children were employed or seeking employment; 6) more than half the respondents perceived that few jobs were available; 7) one-third of the respondents reported the greatest assistance received in finding a job was from their child care teacher; 8) a large majority of the respondents chose the child care program for reasons other than for gainful employment; 9) employed and unemployed respondents were positive in their opinions of the quality of their training; 10) self-reported academic achievement was generally high; 11) salaries in related occupations were not higher than salaries in unrelated occupations; 12) two-thirds of the unemployed respondents indicated a willingness to relocate in order to get a related job.