Below are featured facts and statistics from recent journal issues. For a complete listing of fast facts by journal issue, please click on "View All Fast Facts" below.

Family and Medical Leave Act The Family and Medical Leave Act, which guarantees the right to take 12 weeks of job-protected but unpaid leave to care for a newborn or a seriously ill family member, applies only to companies with 50 employees or more, and to individuals who have worked for that employer for 12 months and 1,250 hours. (Spring/Summer 2001)	Poor Quality of Child Care In virtually all large-scale studies of child care in the United States, approximately 20% of the settings that participate in research have been found to fall below minimal thresholds of adequate care.(Spring/Summer 2001)
High Cost of Child Care For a one-year-old, care in a child care center or licensed home costs almost $6,000 per year. (Spring/Summer 2001)	Young Children in Child Care Centers The use of centers as a source of care for children under age three has nearly tripled in the last 20 years, from 8% in 1977 to 22% in 1997.(Spring/Summer 2001)
Types of Child Care When mothers are working, 27% of infants and toddlers are regularly with their fathers, 27% are with relatives, 22% attend child care centers, 17% go to family child care homes, and 7% are with nannies. (Spring/Summer 2001)	Infants and Toddlers in Child Care There are over 11 million children under age three in the United States, and this year nearly 5 million of them will spend about 25 hours a week in the care of someone other than a parent.(Spring/Summer 2001)
Mothers in the Labor Force 61% of mothers with children under age three were employed in 2000, compared with just 34% in 1975. (Spring/Summer 2001)	Teens and E-Commerce A recent consumer survey forecasts that teens will account for $1.2 billion and children will account for $100 million of the total projected e-commerce dollars in 2002.(Fall/Winter 2000)