The High Cost of Low Wages

"The people who are paid to watch America’s children tend to live in poverty," asserts Danielle Paquette in a 2016 Washington Post article. "Nearly half receive some kind of government assistance: food stamps, welfare checks, Medicaid. Their median hourly wage is $9.77—about three dollars below the average janitor's."

Paquette describes a study in which "researchers at the University of California Berkeley warn that child care is too vital to the country’s future to offer such meager wages. Those tasked with supporting kids, they explain, are shaping much of tomorrow’s workforce.

"'Economic insecurity, linked to low wages, remains endemic among those who care for and educate young children from birth to elementary school,' the authors wrote. 'This condition has endured despite a much-altered landscape in which developmental scientists, economists, and business and labor leaders have widely recognized the importance of early care and education in shaping children’s development, promoting the health of families, and building a strong economy.'

"In the United States, roughly 2 million adults make a living by caring for and educating more than 12 million children, infants to 5-year-olds...Low pay contributes to a revolving door of staffers. The average annual turnover rate among early childhood education staffers, for example, hovers around 30 percent."

Source: "Half of America’s childcare workers need food stamps, welfare payments or Medicaid" The Washington Post, July 11, 2016

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