The early child-care and education industry generates more than $920 million in gross state product each year with its 15,000 employees and purchase of goods and services, according to a new study. In addition, this business sector enables 10 percent of the state’s labor force, or 160,000 parents, to work or pursue education or job training, thus further fueling Connecticut’s economic engine. The Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis at the University of Connecticut generated the data for a number of early childhood agencies, which argue that the health of this industry is important to the wellbeing of the state. Shelley Geballe, president of Connecticut Voices for Children, said the services of the group is "of enormous value" and it should be given the same status as transportation, utilities and housing when officials calculate the economic worth of Connecticut. Despite the impressive figures, however, Geballe said more needs to be done as families don’t have enough high quality affordable child care options. At the same time, she said the state has reduced its investment in this area. From fiscal ’02 to ’05, Connecticut cut 44 percent of the funds available to help low-income families afford these services, a total of $53.3 million, Geballe said, part of it a freeze on funds last year when there was a marked need for them. The care covers slots for children from birth to age 12, with the existing child care businesses only serving 40 percent of children under age 5 and 8.5 percent of school-age youngsters. The biggest group served are 3-5 year olds, but nearly half of the programs are part-time and "therefore less likely to meet the needs of families in the full-time labor force," said Susan Wilson, director of the Early Childhood DataCONNections, Child Health and Development Institute. James Horan, executive director of the Connecticut Association for Human Services, said the advocacy groups wanted to generate a business model that demonstrated the economic impact of investing in this industry. Other studies have already shown the benefits that accrue to kids who get a good pre-school education, said Horan, including "improvements in their readiness for school and their test performances," benefits that extended out to job opportunities later in life. On the economic end, Horan pointed to Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank Vice President Art Rolnick’s analysis of the Perry/High Scope Project, a 40-year study of youngsters in Minnesota who started life with a quality pre-school, compared to a similar group that didn’t. Rolnick found that such investments provide a rate of return of 16 percent, which he said is higher than other uses of private or public monies. Horan said what Rolnick found was that "by investing this way, you insure that you are going to have a quality workforce for the long term." "We’re kind of changing the argument that we’re making in order to capture the attention of lawmakers and capture the attention of businesspeople" to make these investments here, Horan said.