Child Care Staff: The Low Down on Salaries and Stability
By Diana Zuckerman, Ph.D.
As if parents didn’t have enough to feel guilty about, recent headlines warned of the aggressive behavior of children in childcare. But an equally important -- and possibly related -- study of child care workers did not get media attention at all. It should.
The study of child care staffing from 1994 to 2000 in 75 child care centers in Northern California, is a sad reminder of a nationwide problem facing child care workers across the country -- the pay in low and the workers don’t stay long.
The study is particularly important and alarming because the child care centers in the study were seeking accreditation from the National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and therefore probably represent some of the best centers in the country.
Interviews with staff and directors and observations at 43 of the centers found:
More than three out of every four of the teachers on staff in 1996 were no longer on the job in 2000. Only 18 percent of those on staff in 1994 were still working at the same center in 2000. Average annual turnover rates were 30 percent. The average annual turnover rate ranged from zero in 25 percent of the centers to 100 percent in six of the 75 centers.
Why do staff leave? Almost all the child care teachers who left their jobs suggested that improving wages and benefits would encourage more workers to stay in the field. And, in fact, centers that paid more were more likely to keep their teacher staff.
But the reality for child care in general is to decrease, not increase salaries. Wages decreased 6 percent for teachers from 1994 to 2000, when adjusting for inflation. The salaries of assistants decreased 2 percent. The small number of teaching staff who stayed between 1996 and 2000 were treated slightly better; they experienced a 2 percent increase in salary after adjusting for inflation. During a similar 5-year time period, California public school teachers experienced a 9 percent salary increase.
And, of course, the salaries were very low to start with. On average, child care teachers earned $13.52/hour, which is the equivalent of $24,600 for full-time work for 12 months. School teachers earned almost twice as much for a 10-month year.
Despite the very low salaries, two-thirds of the teachers who left their jobs would recommend child care teaching as a career, as would 69 percent of those who were observed in 2000.
Unfortunately, the new teaching staff were significantly less well educated than those they replaced -- approximately half of those left had completed a bachelor’s degree, compared to only one-third of the new teachers. The report used this statistic to show that child care quality is at risk, but fails to mention that these inferior credentials also could explain the decrease in wages reported between 1994 and 2000.
The careers of Center Directors are somewhat more stable, but 40 percent of the directors in 1996 were no longer there in 2000; even more worrisome, two-thirds of those centers had two or more directors after losing the 1996 director. And, although they received higher salaries than the teachers, the Center directors earned an average of $37,571, which is less than the $38,000 recommended starting salary for 10 months for elementary school teachers in California.
What happens to those who leave these child care centers? Only half the teachers who left their positions were working in child care, and those who left child care were making an average of $4.00/ hour more (the equivalent of $8,000 year). Only 39 percent of center directors left their centers to take director or assistant director jobs at other centers. The Directors who left their jobs earned almost $3/hour less than those who remained, which translates to $5,000/year for full-time work.
Teaching staff are influenced by salaries, but they are also more likely to stay if their colleagues are well trained and remain on the job. And, the most highly educated teachers who remained in their jobs earned more than $3 more per hour than those who left, resulting in $6,000/year higher salaries.
It seems reasonable to assume that centers that retain teachers and directors will benefit from that stability, but is there evidence that this is true? The observations revealed that at centers that lost their directors, teachers were rated as harsher toward the children. Which brings us back to the studies that got all the media attention: research showing that two-year old children who spend more hours/week in daycare are more aggressive. Could it be that harsher teachers result in more aggressive children? That seems reasonable, and perhaps the only way to create the incentive to improve the salaries of child care staff is to study the link between those salaries and the behavior of the children in their care. Common sense has apparently not had much impact on improving salaries, so perhaps research evidence could help.
In the meantime, employed mothers and child care workers can take heart from some of the less publicized findings of the new child care study conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). In addition to the previously reported findings regarding aggression, the results showed that children in childcare centers for more than 10 hours each week have better cognitive and language skills than other children their age.
Should working parents feel guilty about placing their children in childcare? The results of these studies suggest that feelings of guilt would be more useful if they were focused on salaries for the adults who care for our children while we are employed elsewhere. If we provide better salaries, it is likely our children will benefit as much as the child care workers.
Citations:
Then & Now: Changes in Child Care Staffing, 1994-2000
Marcy Whitebook, Laura Sakai, Emily Gerber, and Carollee Howes
Full report available for $15 from the Center for the Child Care Workforce,
733 15th St, NW, Suite 1037, Washington, DC 20011 or call 202 737-7700.
Highlights available online at www.ccw.orgThe National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) study is available at www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/early_child_care.htm. The results about aggression and behavior problems will be published in a forthcoming issue of Child Development.
This article is based on Diana Zuckerman's Research Watch columns that appeared in the June 2000 issue of Youth Today, and was reprinted with permission. Youth Today is a publication of the American Youth Work Center, 1200 17th St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20036. (800) 599-2455. E-mail: youthtoday@aol.com.
