California’s early care and education workforce provides essential support and assistance to families across the state. But even as families trust them to care for and teach their children, many workers struggle to improve their wages and economic mobility.
Earlier this year, my colleagues at the Public Policy Institute of California and I conducted data analysis, interviews, and workshops for California’s Care Workforce, an overview of policy issues facing the field. We discovered a variety of challenges that limit career advancement for care workers — as well as existing policies and programs that can offer pathways toward better jobs.
In general, early care and education workers have a number of things in common: virtually all (95%) are women, more than two-thirds (69%) are women of color, and over 40% are foreign-born. They also earn relatively low wages (about $19–$22/hour, which is 20–30% less than the typical California worker).
But similarities among workers in this sector, who provide care across many different settings, end there. Many are self-employed and operate small businesses out of their homes. Others work at childcare centers and preschools that have more explicit training and education requirements. And still others work in public elementary schools, at transitional kindergarten programs for 4-year-olds.
Workers providing care in home-based or similar settings are more likely to be immigrants (46%) and noncitizens (25%) than other early care and education workers. More than 40% have no more than a high school education, though many do hold degrees in early care and education.
In settings like preschools and childcare centers, workers have higher levels of educational attainment, and immigrants are a smaller share of the workforce (33%); only 10% of workers are noncitizens, in line with California’s overall workforce. Those who work in childcare centers usually need to complete college coursework in early care and child development, and lead teachers need additional courses and/or an associate degree. Head Start — a federally funded early care and education program — requires that at least half of its teachers have a bachelor’s degree. Teachers of transitional kindergarten must have a bachelor’s degree plus a teaching credential.
These different kinds of early care and education workers need different kinds of support, and they face different barriers to improved job quality and higher earnings.
Home-based providers who are immigrants and noncitizens may contend with discrimination, work authorization issues, and limited English language skills that make it hard to secure well-paying jobs. These workers could see higher earnings as a result of state policy changes being developed to set new payment rates for subsidized childcare, which are slated to go into effect by July 2025. They could also benefit from programs that help them meet licensing and facility requirements to run their own home-based daycares. Owning a business can offer higher pay and more economic security than working for someone else.
Another key pathway to higher-quality jobs is supporting workers who are pursuing college degrees; higher education can help early care and education workers move to higher-paying elementary schools or Head Start programs.
In California, a longstanding program called Early Care and Education Pathways to Success (ECEPTS) offers apprenticeships that provide paid, work-based learning opportunities. ECEPTS includes on-the-job training, coaching, no-cost college coursework, and cohort learning, all of which lead to wage increases as workers move through the program.
Family childcare apprenticeships offer training in small business administration and use competency-based assessment tools to give home-based providers credit for their experience that can translate to higher compensation — even if they don’t have as much formal education. An early educator apprenticeship model helps participants complete coursework toward associate and bachelor’s degrees alongside paid on-the-job training. Currently, ECEPTS offers registered apprenticeship programs across 10 California counties, from San Bernardino and Riverside up through the San Francisco Bay Area.
Around 20% of early care and education workers in California report they are enrolled in college, suggesting they are pursuing training to advance their careers. Often what people need most to successfully complete training programs are supports like wage replacement that allow them to focus on coursework without losing income.
California’s population of young children is growing less rapidly than in previous decades, but demand for early care and education workers — especially with higher levels of education — is rising, as subsidized childcare programs and public transitional kindergarten expand. At the same time, family-based providers will remain a key segment of this workforce.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to improving jobs for care workers, but California has created a number of pathways with promise. The trick will be scaling them up and finding ways to sustainably finance them.
Shannon McConville is a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California and a member of the PPIC Economic Policy Center. This was written for Zócalo Public Square, an ASU Media Enterprise publication.
