The Childcare industry continues to grow from strength to strength. Primarily, the Commonwealth Government continues to support the Childcare industry with incentives and financial support for parents to take their children to Childcare.

The following factors contribute immensely to growth of Childcare centres:

• Female members of the workforce- while many more Australian women are giving birth, the economy still needs them to work. However, with small babies these women cannot play a role in the labour force. For that reason these women have engaged Childcare services in order for them to return back to the labour force.

• Secondly, the population of dependent children (12 years and below) significantly determines a Childcare centre’s demand, occupancy and profitable growth. If a Childcare centre is located in a catchment area with a high population of early childhood aged children, this presents a huge potential for demand of its care services.

• Of course parents wealth determine a lot whether a household can afford Childcare services. Families with higher disposable income will more readily engage the services of a Childcare centre. On the other hand, a low income family may be forced to stay at home to care for the young children. Generally high employment rates denote availability of paid labour. Thus, if many people are employed, this affects demand for Childcare services.

Occasional periods of baby boom may also boost growth of a Childcare centre. At the same time, government regulations may hamper profitability and growth of Childcare centres. In particular, the requirement for Childcare services to increase staff-child ratios on top of high qualification requirements for teaching stiff will increase operational costs and reduce profit margins.