Why America's childcare system is crumbling and its workers are begging for help
Gerald Herbert/ AP
- Childcare workers earn less than half what the average US worker earns — and many are quitting.
- A provider who makes $9.50 an hour said she's part of the "lucky bunch" since her spouse makes more.
- One Montessori school has seen people quit and had to raise tuition in order to cover staff pay.
At childcare centers and schools, workers have been quitting for better pay and because of burnout, among other reasons.
It's adding to to the childcare industry's ongoing cycle of workers leaving over hard conditions, squeezing centers and parents even more, as the whole operation struggles to stay afloat.
Workers are begging for help.
"We really need help. We need government to step in," Cynthia Dahl, the head of Lighthouse Montessori School in Seattle, told Insider. "It is becoming almost impossible to work just one job if you have a position other than the administration head of school."
Why is childcare — an in-demand service, and one that could end labor shortages if fixed — so decrepit? There are a few core reasons that feed on each other in a never-ending cycle: Low pay, overwork, and a strain on workers' mental health.
To be able to provide "more equitable wages," Dahl said she had to raise tuition by 10% for the new school year, which starts this September, and it "doesn't feel good."
"I know these are all working parents, and only those that can afford it will sign on for the next year," Dahl said. "And I'm not wanting to make parents pay their last dimes to come to my program, but I need to be able to support my staff on a livable wage in Seattle."
She said that the childcare industry needs subsidies so schools and centers like Dahl's can increase wages to support workers. While federal funding from the American Rescue Plan provided a boost, other legislation to bring down costs and bolster the industry have fallen flat.
As of 2018, over half of Americans lived in a childcare desert, according to the Center for American Progress, meaning that the number of children there outnumber licensed care slots by at least three to one.
Several workers told Insider that low pay, misunderstanding of their workload, staffing shortages, and an unsubsidized industry all weigh on the jobs they love. A quarter of providers in the field surveyed by the Stanford Center on Early Childhood said they were having difficulty affording housing, with that rate higher among Black and Latinx workers. Among renters, 38% of providers were worried about eviction.
"People think that it's just like, oh, you guys don't do any work," Rachel, a preschool teacher in Washington, said. "Your job doesn't matter like that. It's ridiculous because as early childhood teachers, we're basically building the foundations in the first few years of their life for their learning later in life."
Almost all of the childcare workers in this story asked to be referred to by first name only, out of fear of professional repercussions. Insider has verified their identities, employment, and, where referenced, income.
Childcare workers are paid much worse than other US workers as centers are strapped for cash and it's 'really expensive' to care for children
Overall, the average hourly wage for childcare workers is $13.31 per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's less than half of the $28.01 average for all occupations. And childcare workers specifically in child daycare services make an average of $12.40 an hour.
Sinead, a 24-year-old childcare worker in West Virginia, makes even less than the national average for childcare workers, with pay of $9.50 an hour. Sinead considers herself one of the "lucky bunch" — because she has a spouse with a higher-paying job.
In West Virginia, a living wage for a childless adult is $15.57 an hour, according to MIT's living wage calculator. For single adults with one child, it's $33.39.
"Many of the other teachers there are not so lucky," Sinead said. "They've got kids on top of it."
Marie, a childcare worker who makes $15 an hour, has seen some of that firsthand.
"The people at my job are either women who have wealthy husbands so they're doing it more just because they enjoy it, or people who just love it so much that they just make it work somehow," she said.
Sinead and Rachel echoed that sentiment.
"With the pay that we currently have, I understand why a lot of people don't want to get into this field because it's not worth it," Rachel said.
Meanwhile, childcare is unaffordable nearly everywhere in the country. One survey from Care.com found about half of parents said they spend over 20% of their household income on childcare.
But high prices are a double-edged sword, since they push families out — and still often can't sustain livable salaries. Without subsidies, families, teachers, and the overall school feel the crunch.
Sarah Rittling, the executive director for the First Five Years Fund, a childcare advocacy group, said that it's "really expensive" to provide care for children, as centers ensure that they follow rigorous safety standards, nurture personal relationships, and make sure they have the right staff to student ratios. At the same time, even as centers face high costs, they can't keep raising prices for parents. That might be one area where the federal government could step in, as President Joe Biden has said they should.
"It's just unworkable without support outside of parents," Rittling said.
Workers quitting has increased the workload for those who stayed
While pay can be one reason workers are resigning from their childcare jobs, Dahl thinks another could be due to mental health reasons.
"Since we are one of those careers where we give our heart to the child, we give our soul to the child, it is people who care deeply that apply for these jobs," Dahl said. "And, I believe that is why we see the most adults that are aware when they're starting to have a mental health crisis and then they take care of themselves as they should."
Dahl is still looking for more staff. She said that staff departures go beyond just leaving other workers crunched; it can also weigh on the kids, who feel like they can't build relationships with their teachers.
Since she started her job, Sinead said there's been consistent staff shortages. Some of that is due to illness. Marie said she feels pressure not to call out sick unless she really needs to, because it saddles other teachers with more work.
"Maybe someone's burnt out by the end of the week and quit, and there's nothing you can do about it," Sinead said. "Or they just realize that they can make a higher wage at Walmart and much less responsibility."
Dahl, like others in education and childcare, thought about leaving the industry. However, she said it's her calling.
"This is where I love being, but it's hard," Dahl said.
"I would really love to say how grateful I am for those individuals that have come to work within childcare," Dahl said. "Not just my own center, but all childcare providers. It's a really hard job right now. And those people that are in it doing it, I'm very grateful for."
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