Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Community Change
Despite the important work that they do, child care workers in every state struggle to make ends meet on poverty-level wages, according to a new report by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) at the University of California, Berkeley.
Low wages undermine early childhood educators’ well-being and create “devastating financial security well into retirement age,” the authors of the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) 2024 Early Childhood Workforce Index said.
Lea Austin (Photo: Center for the Study of Child Care Employment)
“How early educators are treated affects how our children learn,” the Workforce Index authors said. “Ensuring educators’ working conditions and well-being enables them to thrive as teachers and caregivers during the most important years of a child’s life.”
In North Carolina, the median hourly wage for an early childhood educator was $12.31, the report’s authors determined using data from the 2022 American Community Survey. Meanwhile, the living wage for a single adult in the state was $15.82 per hour, which means there’s a 22% or $3.51 living wage gap for single early childhood educators.
The study found that the poverty rate for the state’s early childhood educator workforce was 12.6% for 2022. Furthermore, 43% of North Carolina’s early childhood educator households participate in one or more public safety net programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid. The early childhood educator workforce was 4.8 times more likely to live in poverty than elementary and middle school teachers, according to the report.
The Workforce Index shows that nationally:
Early childhood educators are paid a median wage of $13.07/hour, from $10.60 in Louisiana to $18.23 in the District of Columbia.
Those hourly rates do not constitute a living wage for a single adult in any state.
Nearly half (43%) of child care workers’ families survive on public assistance like food stamps and Medicaid.
“Imagine the impact of public investment that fairly compensates early educators for the important work they do,” said Lea Austin, CSCCE executive director and co-author of the report. “We’d see a more stable workforce, and families could find quality, affordable care.”
Emma Biggs addresses child care crisis during rally in Raleigh. (Photo: Greg Childress)
Emma Biggs, a Charlotte daycare provider and child care advocate, told NC Newsline in June that many teachers in private facilities work without health insurance or a retirement plan.
“I’ve been in this field for 27 years and I have neither one,” Biggs said. “Independent centers, we can’t afford to pay for retirement and health insurance.”
Just before the pandemic, Biggs said, her center could no longer pay for employee health care. The pay, however, was low enough that most employees qualified for health insurance under the federal Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
“Nobody comes into this business to make money,” Biggs said. “We have a passion for it and it’s a calling for us, but we have to be able to pay our bills and keep our doors open.”
Biggs was among the dozens of daycare providers and child care advocates who rallied in Raleigh over the summer to urge lawmakers to allocate $300 million in emergency funding for child care stabilization grants to soften the landing for centers as federal COVID-relief funds ran out.
The federal government poured $1.3 billion into North Carolina during the pandemic to help keep child care facilities open. The grants, which were funded by the 2021 federal American Rescue Plan, ran out in June. The Republican-led General Assembly provided $67.5 million to help fill the gap through Dec. 31.
Gov. Roy Cooper warned last month that the state’s child care centers, teachers and parents will be in trouble unless lawmakers provide additional funding to help stabilize them financially.
“North Carolina relies on high-quality early childhood education and child care to support children’s healthy development and learning, allow parents to work and keep businesses running,” Cooper said in a press release. “But these programs are now in crisis and we need the legislature to step up and make real investments before more child care centers close, more early childhood educators quit and programs become unaffordable for too many parents.”
Cooper noted that the grants currently support 3,763 early childhood education and child care facilities across the state. A recent statewide survey found that nearly a third of such centers are in danger of closing when funding runs out. Without additional money, providers say they will lose teachers, have difficulty hiring, and be forced to increase fees.
North Carolina has lost 116 child care centers over the past year, according to a Cooper administration press release.
Meanwhile, the Workforce Index authors noted that the loss of federal COVID-era subsidies have made conditions worse for child care providers and teachers across the country.
Caitlin McLean (Photo: Center for the Study of Child Care Employment)
“We’re at a crossroads,” said report lead author Caitlin McLean, CSCCE director of Multistate and International Programs. “Federal relief funding for child care is gone, and November elections will bring new leadership in 2025 and beyond. This is a critical time to step up, not back for these skilled educators whose support is so crucial for children, families, and the economy.”
The authors contend the report affirms that early childhood educators have one of the worst-paid jobs in the nation.
“They earn less than 97% of all other occupations,” they said. “As difficult as it is for anyone to be an early educator in America, conditions are even more severe for Black and Latina women who on average are paid up to $8,000 less than their peers each year, even when they hold equivalent educational degrees.”
The report’s authors recommended the following policies to improve child care centers and working conditions for teachers.
Invest in direct public funding to provide early childhood educators with a living wage, health care, and safe, supportive work environments. For an estimate of a values-based budget for each state, see Financing Early Educator Quality.
Prioritize compensation standards and a wage floor across all settings so no one working in early care and education earns less than a regionally assessed living wage. Create a wage/salary scale that sets minimum standards for pay, accounting for job role, experience, and education levels.
Adopt system-level workplace standards such as guidance on appropriate levels of paid time off for vacation and sick leave, paid planning and professional development time, and mental health and teaching supports.