House Passes Resolution Recognizing Child Care Workers
On May 1, the House passed, 345-73, a resolution supporting the goals and ideals of a National Child Care Worthy Wage Day (H. Con. Res. 112).
Sponsored by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:
approximately 63 percent of the nation’s children under [the age of] five are in nonparental care during part or all of the day while their parents work;
the average salary of early care and education workers is $18,180 per year, and only one-third have health insurance and even fewer have a pension plan;
the quality of early [child] care and education programs is directly linked to the quality of early childhood educators; and
the compensation of early childhood program staff should be commensurate with the importance of the job of helping the young children of the nation develop their social, emotional, physical, and cognitive skills, and help them be ready for school.Rep. McCarthy said, “The committed individuals who nurture and teach these young children are undervalued, despite their important work. We know that children begin to learn at birth, and that the quality of care they receive will affect their language, development, math skills, behavior and general readiness for school. However, the inadequate level of wages for child care staff, roughly $18,000 a year, has led to difficulties in attracting and retaining high-quality early childhood caretakers and educators…Please join me in recognizing the important work of child care providers and support the efforts to provide them with a worthy wage. The nation’s child care work force and the families that depend on them deserve our support.”
Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA) said, “Quality [child] care is directly linked to the quality of the educators; helping children to grow, learn, and gain new skills is rewarding. However, it’s very physically and emotionally taxing, as educators work long days, must be alert, deal effectively with disruptive children, anticipate and prevent trouble, and provide firm but fair discipline. As a result, many child care workers leave the profession. The turnover rate in this industry is roughly 30 percent a year…I think it’s important that we are taking time to recognize the critically important work of child care providers and the importance of doing better when it comes to their pay and benefits.”
