Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #114684

Erin Schwab, MSW, Research Department, Child Care Services Association, P.O. Box 901, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, 919-967-3272, erins@childcareservices.org, Teresa Derrick, MPA, Child Care Resource and Referral Services, Child Care Services Association, P.O. Box 901, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, and Susan Russell, MS, President, Child Care Services Assoication, P.O. Box 901, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.

The child care field is made up predominately of women. Often these women receive low wages for long work hours with infrequent opportunities for advancement. Many providers aren't offered additional benefits like health insurance. In 2003, the North Carolina Division of Child Development funded Child Care Services Association (CCSA) to conduct a statewide workforce study of child care providers to examine these issues. Nearly 18,000 center directors, teachers and family child care providers participated. Of the responding teachers, 99% were female, 73% had children, 44% reported working more than forty hours per week, and 29% reported not having health insurance. Forty-five percent reported having a household income of less than $20,000 and 36% reported having received some sort of public assistance in the past three years. Results show that providers with a bachelor's degree earn a median of $1.49 more per hour than providers with an associate's degree. Providers with an associate's degree earn a median of $1.34 more per hour than providers with no degree. Despite the minimal financial incentive, almost 1/3 (32%) of teachers report that they are currently taking college courses.

These numbers reflect similar data collected during the 1998 and 2001 child care workforce studies conducted by CCSA. Low compensation rates, few opportunities for advancement and increased pay, and insufficient access to health care all contribute to the high turnover rate in this profession. Despite this, child care providers are expected to serve as role models and provide safe, nurturing, and appropriate care to our children.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to cite statistics relevant to the education and compensation of the child care NC workforce.
• Participants will be able to cite statistics on the percent of NC providers receiving public assistance and the percent of NC providers that do not have access to health care.
• Participants will be able to cite statistics on family composition, gender, and house hold income of the NC child care workforce.

Keywords: Child Care, Workforce

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.