BERKELEY, CA — Employment in the early care and education sector continues to fluctuate as recovery remains slow, according to analysis by the UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE).
While 6,000 jobs were added last month, the workforce is 11 percent smaller than the outset of the pandemic and wages are low. The national median wage of child care workers is just $13.22 an hour. Today’s release is based on the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) jobs report.
Figure 1
-117k
Child care jobs lost since Feb 2020
88.9%
Percentage of child care jobs today compared to Feb 2020
Job numbers from selected states and metro areas also show a mix of gains and losses. Child care employment in California, New Jersey, New York State and Texas increased. Notably, two places that had appeared to be adding jobs, New York City and Massachusetts, show losses in the latest BLS report.
Some of the recent fluctuation in job numbers for the state and metro areas may also reflect the BLS's annual adjustments.
Figure 2
Check back with us or revisit the site page each month for the updates.
*More details on the data source:
- Data Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2022). Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey.
- Current month’s jobs numbers are a preliminary estimate by BLS.
- These estimates include employees in the “child day care services” industry, which includes child care, Head Start, preschool and school-age care programs. The estimates include employees only and do not include self-employed workers, such as owners of home-based child care.
- This employment data cannot be disaggregated by education, race/ethnicity, role, setting, or funding stream.
- For the “child day care services” industry, estimates for a small number of states and cities are available, a selection of which are included here. The availability of state- or city-level estimates varies by industry., and the most recent month’s jobs numbers are a preliminary estimate by BLS. These data are released by BLS later in the month than national figures.