The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) at UC Berkeley has released its 2024 Early Childhood Workforce Index. This report reviews the policies and conditions affecting the early care and education (ECE) workforce and provides insights on a state-by-state basis. This latest edition emphasizes the ongoing challenges faced by early educators, many of whom live in poverty. Programs are struggling with high turnover rates and difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff.
Despite the growing recognition of the importance of early childhood education, progress in improving working conditions, wages, benefits, and access to professional development for ECE workers has been slow. Nationally, wages for all occupations have risen by 4.9% in recent years, while the ECE workforce has seen only a 4.6% increase. In contrast, wages in industries where ECE workers often seek jobs, such as fast food and retail, have increased by 5.2% and 6.8%, respectively. The CSCCE report reveals that the ECE workforce is compensated at lower rates than 97% of all professions, leading to poverty-level wages and challenges in hiring qualified individuals for this crucial work.
The report highlights significant disparities in median hourly wages and participation in public safety net programs between the ECE workforce and other professions, including elementary and middle school education:
ECE Workforce:
Median Hourly Wage: $13.07 (with a range from $10.60 in Louisiana to $18.23 in Washington, D.C.)
Participation in Public Safety Net Programs: 43%
Elementary and Middle School Teachers:
Median Hourly Wage: $31.80
Participation in Public Safety Net Programs: 19%
All Occupations:
Median Hourly Wage: $22.92
Participation in Public Safety Net Programs: 28%
Taxpayers are spending approximately $4.7 billion annually on public safety net programs to support early educators and their families, compensating for their insufficient earnings.
Wages within the ECE workforce vary greatly based on the setting, funding source, and the age of the children served, rather than the educators’ qualifications. While around 30% of center-based staff and about 20% of home-based staff have a bachelor’s degree or higher, those working in school-funded pre-K programs earn over $20,000 more per year than their peers in centers that lack public funding. Additionally, educators working with infants and toddlers in non-school-sponsored centers earn about $8,000 less than those working with children aged three to five. In every state, even the highest-paid early educators do not earn a living wage for a single adult without children, despite many of them being parents themselves.
In response to these issues, the CSCCE has identified five policy areas that states should consider to improve the ECE workforce:
Qualifications and Educational Supports: Establish consistent standards and support for educators seeking higher education.
Work Environment Standards: Create standards that hold ECE programs accountable for providing safe and supportive work environments.
Compensation and Financial Relief Strategies: Invest in strategies that align compensation with educators’ qualifications, experience, and expertise.
Workforce Data: Collect state-level data on the size, characteristics, and conditions of the ECE workforce.
Public Funding: Increase public investment in the ECE workforce and the overall system.
One recommended strategy to support early educators in pursuing higher education and training is the development of Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs). These programs can serve as a pathway for career advancement and professional development for current educators while also attracting new entrants to the ECE field. Enhancing these programs could improve access to degree and credential attainment and boost educator compensation.
A stable and skilled workforce is vital for maintaining quality in early childhood programs. When early educators struggle, it directly impacts the children they care for. Although many states utilized pandemic relief funds to support the workforce, that funding has now ended, raising concerns about the future of the workforce. To tackle the ongoing workforce crisis and ensure programs can attract and retain quality educators, better public funding, aligned standards, and quality initiatives are essential.
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