Child Care Workforce

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Child Care Workforce

Workforce quality and compensation are major issues in child care. Low wages are common, particularly among teachers and caregivers serving infants and toddlers. State policies vary in terms of subsidy rates, wage supplements, and other policies that impact compensation; in education and training requirements for child care professionals; and in the availability of scholarship programs to incentivize educational advancement.

Featured Resources

Child Care in Crisis: Texas Care Study

In this research brief series, Child Care in Crisis: Texas Case Study, read about national child care issues through original findings from Texas, home to more than 10% of the nation’s children. The briefs explain the specific issues facing the child care industry and what states can do to support early childhood educators and child care businesses, as well as ensure that all families have access to high-quality child care.

Early Investment, a Lifetime of Returns: Articulating the Value of Early Childhood Investments in Virginia

Our estimates indicate that Virginia’s investment yields substantial returns to children, families, and the state–including reduced poverty and child maltreatment, a lifetime of improved educational achievement, and hundreds of millions of dollars in state economic returns.

Transforming the Child Care Landscape: A Case Study of New Mexico

The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center undertook an exploratory research process to both document New Mexico’s historic state actions and to develop a theory of change that connects these actions to their most likely outcomes based on existing evidence in the field.

Related Resources

June Update: Prenatal-to-3 State Legislative Trends

Though most legislative sessions have adjourned, lawmakers and advocates across the country continue to advance efforts to support children and families. A lot can happen at the tail end of a legislative session, as Colorado

Early Investment, a Lifetime of Returns: Articulating the Value of Early Childhood Investments in Virginia

Significant returns to families and the state

Transforming the Child Care Landscape: A Case Study of New Mexico

Throughout the nation, states are struggling to keep their child care industries afloat. Decades of underinvestment and a global pandemic threatened a near-total collapse of the system, held off only by temporary pandemic-era funding that

June Update: Prenatal-to-3 State Legislative Trends

In the past several months, legislatures throughout the United States passed transformative policies for children and families. This exciting, evidence-based legislation includes a historic investment in child care in Vermont, Medicaid expansion in North Carolina,

Highlights from the Society for Research in Child Development 2023 Biennial Meeting

“Life is complicated, and to understand it as researchers and scholars…well, we have our work cut out for us,“ said Dr. Deborah Vandell at the Society for Research in Child Development’s multidisciplinary conference. Hundreds of

2023 State Legislative Trends Across the Prenatal-to-3 System of Care

In addition to conducting research and evaluating evidence, at the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, we also track state legislation and administrative action impacting young children and their families. These efforts provide us with context to