The Economic Policy Institute just issued a report, Child care workers aren’t paid enough to make ends meet. Not startling news to those in the early childhood field, but the data is stunning, and provides Wisconsin-specific information: Some key findings:
- Child care workers receive very low hourly pay
- Very few child care workers receive job-based benefits
- Most child care workers do not have incomes high enough to make ends meet
- In Wisconsin, the cost of child care exceeds the cost of public college tuition:
- Full-time child care for 4-year-olds costs 113% of college tuition
- Full-time infant child care costs 137.8% of college tuition
It’s time for a major change.