Fair Pay for Child Care Providers

by Karen Schulman, Senior Policy Analyst, 
National Women’s Law Center 

Fair Pay Day is not just about fair pay for women in the same jobs as men—it’s also about fair pay for women in predominately female-held jobs, such as child care.  Child care providers, despite the valuable role they play in nurturing and teaching young children and enabling parents to work and support their families, are paid an average of only $19,670 a year.  And during these challenging economic times, many child care providers are struggling to stay in business, and many child care staff are at risk of having their already-low pay cut.

Still, there are currently several promising strategies and opportunities for helping child care providers improve their compensation and education.  In 13 states that have authorized home-based child care providers to organize and negotiate with the state, child care unions are working to secure improvements in pay and working conditions for the family child care and family, friend, and neighbor care providers they represent.  Twenty-one states have adopted the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Project, which provides scholarships and raises or bonuses to child care providers who complete a specified amount of education and commit to continue working in their child care programs for a set period of time.  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides funding for several programs and initiatives that can be used to support professional development opportunities for child care providers and other early childhood educators. 

On this Fair Pay Day, we need to consider how to build on these efforts to support the child care providers who are providing such essential support to children and families.

See who else is writing about workplace fairness for women on this Equal Pay Day.