City M has a population of 7.7 million people and 281,000 businesses. The region's GDP in 2013 was approximately $560 billion (US), making it one of the largest economies in North America, with impressive innovation and tech hubs. The business community in City M is diverse and robust, with some of the biggest knowledge-based industries in Canada. These sectors include advanced manufacturing, financial services, information and communications technology, life sciences, smart logistics, etc.

City M is a rapidly expanding municipality comprising well-established and newly developed communities. Over the past two decades, there have been significant changes in City M's families and children. The city has a relatively young population, with 16% children, one of Ontario's highest percentages. City M's total population was 103,425 aged 0-12 years, expected to grow by 10% between 2016 and 2026. Research shows that public investment in early years and child care can drive regional economic development. The need for child care has increased due to the rise in dual-income earner families over the past three decades. Access to child care is an economic driver that allows more people, especially women, to participate in the workforce or attend school, increasing Gross Domestic Product and income from taxes.

The service that I am proposing for City M would be assisting parents in finding reliable childcare for parents outside of daytime hours. There are various options available to parents during the day, such as drop-ins and traditional daycare, but those services typically close around 6:00 pm with strict policies around being late. In City M, the only options for childcare in the evenings would be a nanny, babysitters, or family and friends. People do not always want to impose on their families; nannies and babysitters can be expensive. Parents can also feel uneasy about not knowing if the people they leave their children with are good caretakers.According to city statistics, only 63% of the demand for care for children under four is being met, which is a cause for concern for families. This suggests a strong consumer base for a solution to this issue. Access to a wider and more flexible range of programs, including extended hours and weekend care, is needed. However, parents often need help finding suitable programs that meet their needs. To address this issue, this business aims to provide local parents with the best evening care solution.

The main concept of the business is that it would offer those who currently work in daycare the opportunity to work evenings and weekends watching children. They could be known entities to parents if they were proven resources for daycares. If not, then they would at least be viewed as more reliable. The workers could set their prices, and the parents could decide if they could abide by them. Therefore, the elasticity of demand for some daycare workers could be more than for others. When the business first launches and fewer workers are available, higher prices could be dictated as the supply would likely be lower than the demand. However, the goal would be that with more available daycare workers, the cost would eventually regulate depending on their experience. They would have the option to change their prices depending on whether people are contacting them for work. They may need to adjust depending on their desire to work additional hours. The parents would only see the bill rates, including the markup for business operations and the rate to the worker. As the business continues its operations, we will track workers' rates. We would eventually use this data to advise new workers on what rates they could dictate based on their experience and when they can work. This system would only support workers who have been confirmed to work at a daycare facility currently. Potential customers would be parents seeking evening child care, whether the children attend daycare or have already started school to expand the demand. We would look to partner with local daycares and schools to advertise the service, which is likely to be successful should their workers choose to leverage the opportunity. As we would target the local population, it is less likely to make commuting an issue unless demand outweighs supply at a given time and a worker is willing to travel.

Given the recent inflation in the market, daycare workers may be more open to an easy way to increase their income. In general, 85% of Canadians worry that their earnings do not match the growing cost of living. Therefore, it makes sense that 63% of gig workers have opted for a side job in 2023 due to the surging costs and inflation. While workers could inform parents about the offering, having a daycare advertise the service would help parents with the peace of mind that their children would be in good hands. It also has the benefit for the daycare that they are supporting their workers in taking on additional hours if they choose to do so.

Having dependable child care during evenings and weekends can be a luxury for some but a necessity for others. It is difficult for those working in some industries to work those hours to find affordable child care. While this service would not qualify for subsidies as it is not a licensed daycare, there may be opportunities where a discount could be discussed between the worker and the parents if it were a regular job. However, it would be at the discretion of the worker.

The business would not have a brick-and-mortar location but would operate solely via phone and a phone application (app) to save operational costs. Payments would also be completed via the app, allowing workers and parents to review each other to promote accountability. While some parties may be tempted to circumvent the business, it could lead to avoidable negative tax implications.

Per the province's current legislation, daycare workers must be paid a minimum of $18/hr which many feel is much too low. There is currently legislation to increase the hourly rate to $25/hr. The business would be looking to incorporate the $25/hr rate to make it a greater chance of supply for customers.

1. Would it be possible to make my verbiage surrounding supply and demand more precise here? I know it would be better to say that there might be a shotage or surplus at a given price, but the price would be set by the worker in this case with the business providing advise. How can I get around this more precisely?
2. Income is a demand shifter, I've mentioned income here, but how can I make it a connection as a demand shifter here? This should be viewed as a superior service to other options such as relatives, babysitters, etc. What could be also revevant demand and supply shifters? Would the demand for childcare be elastic or inelastic and why?

1. Looking at the business model in the third paragraph, what could be a smoother way to illustrate supply and demand here knowing that we think of demand as consumers' set of plans: It's constructed by the entire collection of all possible prices and quantities. When a customer faces a particular price, they execute their plans and purchase the associated amount they have in mind. The law of demand is relevant here: At higher prices there's a lower quantity demanded; at lower prices a higher quantity demanded. It's really important to be precise about the terminology: if the price is too high it will not be demand but rather quantity demanded that is low which should be mentioned, but not exactly sure how?

Can you help? Thank you! I am very available and will respond quickly if you have questions.

For this purpose, the economicreasoning and reflection is more important than the actual precise data (e.g. it's more valuable to reflect on why wages might be above average in the local market or not; it's more valuable to reflect on why prices might be far above marginal cost or instead close to marginal cost)