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EElizabeth Warren's plan to provide child care to all American families who want it would require the creation of a massive, highly skilled workforce for a profession that is already struggling to attract workers.
Advocates of universal child care do not know exactly how many workers would be needed to carry out this business, but they know that the United States already faces a shortage of dramatic workers. A analysis, from the Center for American Progress, on the left, found that half of the families lived in places without child care.
"While I am in favor of improving child care in Canada, there are some very profound issues that will require a lot of willingness and money from the public to take us where we need to be," said Kristin Schubert. expert in child health at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Warren's plan, released earlier this week as one of the Massachusetts senator's first presidential campaign proposals, would provide fully government-funded child care to families with incomes below a certain threshold. Families of four earning about $ 51,500 a year would benefit from free child care. The rest would not pay more than 7% of their income in child care, with the federal government paying the rest.
The proposal, the Universal Child Care and Early Learning Act, would result in a significant transfer of resources to childcare from the status quo, in which two-parent households spend more than 10% of their time on childcare. their incomes to babysit, while single parents spend closer to 36%, according to the Child Care Aware of America child advocacy group. About 2.6 million children receive some form of government subsidy to cover childcare costs.
Warren's proposal, known as the Universal Child Care and Early Learning Act, would significantly expand child care programs when there is no child care program. Not enough qualified day care staff to adequately support the 6.8 million infants and toddlers currently in day care. Moody 's Analytics estimated that his plan would allow an additional 12 million kids to have access to a day care center. To meet this demand, more staff would need to be recruited and those already in the field trained again, largely because Warren's plan requires daycares to meet rigorous standards.
Although, as proponents argue, the spending and dedication of the federal government could help overcome these barriers, the plan would still face significant logistical challenges. For example, the government should find a way to accommodate families with additional needs, such as using day care services at night because they do not work 9 to 5, or need care close to home. remote areas where they work or live.
Rural areas and cities are facing a shortage of childcare staff. Washington, DC, for example, has only about a niche for childcare on three infants and toddlers living in the city. As a result, parents often queue up at the daycare when they learn they are pregnant.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that no less than 1.2 million people work in licensed or licensed child care, a number that includes teaching assistants and preschool teachers. It is difficult to determine the exact number of additional day care workers needed to achieve Warren's vision, in part because there is no reliable data on unregulated child care.
An earlier analysis of a similar bill from the Senate, the Child Care Act, introduced by Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., Offers some understanding. The Center for American Progress estimated that this measure would create 700,000 child care jobs, but it is unclear whether this figure would be enough to meet the demand for child care.
"Each of these proposals would require a real process of acceleration so that the workforce is in place," said Patricia Cole, Senior Director of Federal Zero Three Policy, a group that advocates for policies that support parents. infants and children. and toddlers. "It certainly would not happen overnight."
Several advocates of a universal childcare plan should be put in place at the same time, say the advocates. The federal government should pay for recruiting new employees and training current employees to meet the new standards in child care. And they should try them with a higher salary: if people have to meet higher standards without higher wages, they will probably look for another job.
"Right now the situation is this: it's bad," said Schubert of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "It's really bad for us to pay this manpower. A lot of [child care workers] work well with a decent salary. "
Daycare workers are paid about $ 10.72 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statisticsand work often does not include sickness or retirement benefits, forcing workers to rely on public programs. The sector has a turnover rate of around 25%. Child care workers with college education tend to move to higher paying preschool jobs.
"It's becoming very difficult to recruit and retrain qualified teachers at this level of pay," said Katie Hamm, Vice President of Early Childhood Policy at the Center for American Progress.
Warren's office did not respond to inquiries, but his plan proposes that the government fund training and professional development for workers. It also suggests that educators receive salaries similar to those of public school teachers.
All provisions, including child care subsidies, would be funded under Warren's proposal. wealth taxor what she calls the "ultra-millionaire tax". The tax would start at a rate of 2% for households with a net worth greater than $ 50 million and would increase to 3% for billionaire households.
Warren's team quoted a analysis by Moody's Analytics conclude that its child care program would cost the Treasury $ 70 billion a year, or about the amount spent last year by the Department of Homeland Security.
Another study dating back to 2018 and conducted by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine concluded that to make education from birth to kindergarten more accessible, affordable and of better quality, it would take $ 82 billion in public spending a year and $ 58 billion in private spending. $ 140 billion a year.
Projections for these two areas require training and certification of current staff. According to Warren's plan, daycares that do not meet the same standards as American daycares and Head Start programs would not get federal funding.
To achieve this, existing regulations should be streamlined, as state licensing requirements for child care facilities differ. Generally, unlicensed daycares are not subject to regular inspections to check for fire safety or do not require criminal background checks of staff. Licensing standards require a certain child / caregiver ratio, as well as specific training in CPR or first aid.
Child care advocates believe that standards for child care staff should be expanded to include training, as brain development is intense in infants and toddlers.
"It's not just a babysitting," Schubert said.
Advocates of these standards believe that to reach them, daycare educators should have higher degrees – and the time needed to reach them.
"The only way to professionalize a workforce and increase benefits is to have an indication that people have received the training and education needed," said Cole.
She added that such an undertaking would require significant funding and time, but she noted that it may not be necessary for daycare educators to be laser trained to obtain a diploma or a program. in order to produce quality workers.
Hamm agreed, noting that people already on the ground had valuable experience.
"Balanced support must be put in place to help educators acquire the skills they need, without penalizing those who are more advanced in their careers and have had experiences that contribute to their knowledge base," he said. she said.
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