The American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) has made available nearly 40 billion dollars in direct funding to child care providers through programs like the Child Care and Development Block Grant Program. Moreover, the Head Start program has been provided with $1 billion. However, the funding for child care provided by the American Rescue Act is set to expire on September 30.
Yet, without additional funding, states will face a steep drop-off in federal child care investment, currently referred to as the “child care cliff.” The Century Foundation’s report indicates that more than 70,000 child care programs and roughly 3.2 million children may lose their child care spots without extra funding.
Today, a group of Senators and U.S. Representatives introduced the Child Care Stabilization Act which will extend federal child care funding that will expire on September 30. This extension, like ARP, addresses affordability for families but does not address the supply of child care workers.
Child Care Workforce vs. Labor Market
The child care workforce is anyone qualified to work as a child care worker. The qualifications for child care workers range from a high school diploma or equivalent to a bachelor’s degree in an education field. Graph 1 shows the median income levels for child care workers and teachers at various levels in the education system. Child care workers are at the bottom of the group, earning 81 cents for every dollar a preschool teacher makes and 47 cents for every dollar a kindergarten teacher makes, even though child care workers may have similar credentials to preschool and kindergarten teachers (See Graph 2).
Graph 1. Salaries of Child Care Workers and Teachers
Source: Calculations by the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity and Race using May 2022 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates United States. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics https://www.bls.govoes/current/oes_nat.htm
Graph 2. Child Care Workers’ Share of Teachers’ Median Wage
Source: Calculations by the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity and Race using May 2022 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates United States. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics https://www.bls.govoes/current/oes_nat.htm
A Path Forward
Over the next few weeks, we will explore challenges to having a sustainable child care workforce and discuss examples of successful state child care systems. We must create a national strategy that models the design of these successful child care systems.
