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Selected Early Childhood Workforce Studies
Workforce studies play an important role in the development of policy and program planning intended to improve the quality of early care and education. Systematic data collection can help document the successes and needs of the early care and education sector. It also allows for comparisons across programs, economic sectors, geographic areas, and/or against a national average. Some of key data elements examined in these studies include salary and benefits, demographics of the workforce (e.g. age, ethnicity); and credentials (e.g. level of education, training).
The following is a selected sample of workforce studies and reports. These examples do not include all States that have workforce studies, but are meant to represent a range of approaches States have taken to develop/implement the quality assurance component of a professional development system. More information is available from the Early Childhood Professional Development Systems Toolkit on NCCIC's Web site at http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/goodstart/index.html. NCCIC does not endorse any organization, publication, or resource.
State |
Title |
Components of |
Key Elements |
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Arizona | Compensation and Credentials: A Survey of Arizona's Early Education Workforce (July 2005), by the State Board on School Readiness, Governor's Office of Children, Youth, and Families, Association for Supportive Child Care, Children's Action Alliance. www.azchildren.org/MyFiles/PDF/ |
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California | The California Early Care and Education Workforce Study (2006), a collaboration between the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment and the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, funded by First 5 California. |
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Connecticut | A Research Perspective on the Child Care Workforce in Connecticut, by Early Childhood DataCONNections. |
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Florida | Child Care Workforce Study (2006), by Children's Forum, Inc. |
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Illinois | Illinois Salary and Staffing Survey of Licensed Child Care Facilities: FY 2005 (May 2006), prepared by Philip C. Garnier, Department of Human and Community Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for the Illinois Department of Human Services. www.dhs.state.il.us/OneNetLibrary/ |
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Iowa | Iowa Early Care and Education Professional Development, Child Care Center Director's Survey Information (May 2001), presented to the Iowa Early Care and Education Professional Development Project, presented by the Community Development–Data Information & Analysis Laboratory, Iowa State University Extension and Department of Human Development & Family Studies. www.iaeceprofdev.org/training_resources/ |
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Maine | Maine Child Care Market Rate and Workforce Study, prepared by Mills Consulting Group, funded by Office of Child Care and Head Start, Community Services Center, Department of Human Services, State of Maine. |
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Massachusetts |
Massachusetts Capacity Study Research Brief: Characteristics of the Current Early Education and Care Workforce Serving 3-5 Year-Olds (2005), by Nancy Marshall, Julie Dennehy, Christine Johnson-Staub, Wendy Robeson, Center for Research on Women, Wellesley College. www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ |
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Preparing the Early Education and Care Workforce: The Capacity of Massachusetts' Institutions of Higher Education (2005), by Nancy Marshall, Julie Dennehy, Elizabeth Starr, Wendy Robeson, Center for Research on Women, Wellesley College. www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ |
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Minnesota | Child Care Workforce in Minnesota, 2006 Statewide Study of Demographics, Training and Professional Development: Final Report, by Richard Chase, Christopher Moore, Sandi Pierce, and Joanne Arnold for the Minnesota Department of Human Services. |
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New York | Learning About the Workforce: A Profile of Early Childhood Educators in New York City's Community- and School-Based Centers (November 2007), by NYC Early Childhood Professional Development Institute and the Cornell University Early Childhood Program. This resource is available at |
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North Carolina | Working in Child Care in North Carolina: The North Carolina Child Care Workforce Survey 2003, by North Carolina Early Childhood Needs and Resources Assessment, Child Care Services Association, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. |
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Pennsylvania | A Baseline Report of Early Care and Education in Pennsylvania: The 2002 Early Care and Education Provider Survey |
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Ohio | 2005 Workforce Study: Ohio Early Childhood Centers, General Analysis (March 2006), by the Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association. |
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Utah | A Study of the Child Care Workforce in Utah: Summary (August 2002), by the Utah Office of Child Care. |
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Additional Resources
The Early Care and Education Teaching Workforce at the Fulcrum, Summary Report (December 2007), by Sharon Lynn Kagan, Kristie Kauerz, Kate Tarrant, Teachers College Press.
Focuses on the nearly 5 million individuals who have the responsibility of caring for and educating the nearly two-thirds of America’s children younger than 5 years who spend time in non-parental care.
Addresses topics including workforce demographics, level of formal education, turnover, and training opportunities:
Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers are predominantly white women in their late 30s and early 40s. Most ECE teachers have at least an associate’s degree and earn salaries that are extremely low compared to those of individuals with similar qualifications in other fields.
The ECE workforce experiences an estimated annual turnover rate of 30 percent, as compared to 16 percent among K-12 teachers.
Data indicate that one quarter of teachers work in center-based settings, another quarter work in family child care homes, and roughly one half are relatives and non-relatives who care for children in homes.
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Regarding formal education, the data vary, indicating that between one fifth and one half of ECE teachers hold bachelor’s or advanced graduate degrees. Associate’s degrees are held by one fifth to nearly one half, and about one fifth hold a high school degree.
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Training varies by program type and by state. One three-state study noted that Head Start teachers participate in the most training of the ECE workforce: 62 hours of training per year compared to 45 hours for teachers in pre-kindergarten and 27 hours for teachers in child care programs. A four-state study found that, on average, family child care (FCC) providers participate in 19 hours of training and family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) caregivers participate in 16 hours of training annually.
This resource is available at www.cornerstones4kids.org/images/teachers_report_0107.pdf.
Estimating the Size and Components of the U.S. Child Care Workforce and Caregiving Population (May 2002), by the Center for the Child Care Workforce and the Human Services Policy Center. www.hspc.org/publications/pdf/ccw_May_2002.pdf.
This publication is the result of a two-year research project to develop a framework and methodology for quantifying the size and characteristics of the U.S. child care workforce more completely than has been done before. The focus is on the workforce serving children ages 0 through 5 years (excluding children enrolled in kindergarten).
Approximately 2.3 million individuals are paid to care for children ages 0-5 years in the U.S. in a given week.
The total U.S. caregiving population also includes approximately 2.4 million individuals providing unpaid child care during a given week (i.e. parent volunteers, unpaid relatives, unpaid non-relatives).
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Other major findings presented include:
Data on the paid U.S. childcare workforce by job responsibility;
Selected characteristics of the children in the care of the paid and unpaid workforce, respectively;
Turnover estimates;
Educational level of the workforce; and
Selected demographics of the workforce (ethnicity, gender).
This resource is available at www.hspc.org/publications/pdf/ccw_May_2002.pdf.
* This column refers to components included in the document listed above. Back
Updated May 2008
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