Higher compensation and supportive work environments play a critical role in determining the quality of services children receive and the ability of programs to recruit and retain highly skilled teachers, yet wages and benefits for early educators remain among the lowest of any occupation in the country, creating challenges to  attracting new teachers and fueling turnover and teacher shortages. CSCCE presents the latest data about educator wages and conducts ongoing studies to explore how wages influence program quality, improvement efforts, and teacher well-being. Our policy recommendations focus on achieving livable, equitable, dependable wages for early educators alongside affordable, high-quality services for families.