The Costs of Being a Child Care Teacher

Abstract

The demand for child care in the United States continues to grow, but child care workers’ wages remain minimal. Using examples within New Jersey, the author demonstrates how low wages impact child care quality and are directly related to the effects of the competitive marketplace. Various historical, regulatory, and cultural contexts also contribute to low wages, however. Because most child care workers are female, the author uses a feminist critical policy analysis lens to examine the gendered aspects of these contextual factors. The author argues that the gender-related issues within these contexts exacerbate the problem of low wages and also contribute to the intractability of the issue, particularly in terms of accessing policymakers’ agendas. The author concludes with a brief summary of issues that policymakers and advocates will need to keep in mind as they search for solutions to the problem of low wages.