The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated inequities and fragilities inherent in existing child care markets and decimated the supply of child care in many communities. As part of the $3.5 trillion budget plan, Congress is currently considering ways to address the long-standing underinvestment in the early care and education (ECE) workforce in order to help stabilize child care markets nationally. Despite being deemed essential to the nation’s economy, the ECE workforce experiences high turnover, low pay and benefits, and limited opportunities for professional development and advancement—all of which undermines the quality and continuity of care for young children.

Unfortunately, the effectiveness of long-term reforms for the child care workforce has not been well-studied. However, there are decades of studies testing “make work pay” initiatives—where workers are provided extra monetary payments, sometimes in the form of bonuses, earnings supplements and earned income tax credits—that provide highly relevant insights. These strategies are remarkably reliable at boosting workers’ earnings and incomes, reducing poverty, and, in some cases, increasing employment retention. Here are three lessons from this research that can help increase opportunities for advancement and upward mobility for the child care workforce.

  1. Longer-term, robust compensation reforms work better than short-term initiatives
  2. Coordinate and align compensation reforms with intensive workforce development initiatives
  3. Aggressively market and simplify application processes to ensure maximum enrollment

Read the full article about the early care and education workforce by JoAnn Hsueh at MDRC.