The Childcare Survey is New Zealand’s first comprehensive national survey on early childhood education and care. The survey was a joint research project between the Department of Labour and the National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women (NACEW), and was conducted by Statistics New Zealand as a supplement to the Household Labour Force Survey in the September quarter of 1998. The purpose of the Childcare Survey was to gather information from parents on ECE and care arrangements for children under 14 years of age, and to examine the relationship between use of ECE and care, and participation in the labour market.