The analysis presented in this report was designed to make available to policymakers a comprehensive study of child care arrangements, preferences, and costs as of 1971, using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Women and Young Women. This analysis yields results which both complement and update the earlier Low and Spindler report titled "Child Care Arrangements of Working Mothers in the United States (ED 040 738). Data is presented according to the study sample, which was divided into two racial groups--blacks and whites--which were further subdivided into three categories by the age of the woman's youngest child. (These categories are women whose youngest child was under three years of age, three to five years of age, and six to thirteen years of age, referred to in the study as infants, preschoolers, and young school-aged children, respectively.) This report is divided into four major sections. The first section explores the kinds of child care arrangements used by employed mothers. The second section examines child care expenditures. The third section analyzes the characteristics of women who prefer some form of child care other than their current arrangement. The fourth section summarizes and emphasizes the policy implications of the findings. Nineteen tables of comparative data are included. (WL)