[Excerpt] What contributions do employers make to caring for children while their parents work? In the United States, childcare benefits provided by employers remain relatively uncommon. Private industry extended these benefits to 1 out of 25 employees in 1995-96. The incidence of employer-provided childcare benefits, which was barely measurable for fulltime workers in medium and large private establishments in 1985, has increased only slightly since the Bureau of Labor Statistics first began collecting comprehensive data on them in 1990. Childcare benefits reported in 1995-96 include employer-managed facilities (on and off the work site) and direct payments to other care providers.