Inadequate and inequitable compensation is the longest-running and most pressing issue in early childhood education—impacting educators themselves, as well as children, families, businesses, and the economy.

Low compensation drives current educators out of the field, keeps potential educators from coming into the field, undermines the quality of early learning programs, and creates staffing crises that limit the supply of child care that families and businesses need.

Specifically, low incomes and lack of benefits are connected to higher rates of stress and burnout, which worsens educators’ own health and well-being, increases turnover, and negatively impacts the quality and supply of care and education. Educator stress and burnout are further exacerbated by misguided deregulatory policies that attempt to address child care supply challenges by allowing for more children per adult in programs. These changes make educators’ difficult jobs even harder, thereby worsening the problem that they were intended to solve.

Early childhood educators have been clear about the urgency and importance of increasing compensation in terms of wages and benefits,  regardless of the state, setting, age group, or funding stream in which they work.

Supporting access to benefits—both alongside and in the absence of much -needed substantial and sustained wage increases—can positively impact educators and their families. Benefits are useful as a recruitment and retention strategy; they support parity across settings; and they are a core component of supporting individual and family economic self-sufficiency.

To help states and communities that are working to increase educators' access to benefits, NAEYC has released a benefits brief titled, Compensation Means More Than Wages Increasing Early Childhood Educators’ Access To Benefits. This resource explores several types of benefits and supports by outlining current context, data, and challenges at a high level; highlighting promising state, local, and programmatic examples; and putting forth considerations and recommendations, particularly for state policymakers, program leaders, advocates, and allies, in the following areas:
 

• Increasing Access to Traditional Benefits
  • Health Insurance
  • Retirement Savings
• Reducing Educators’ Cost Burdens
  • Higher Education
  • Child Care
  • Housing
• Additional Supports and Actions for Policymakers
  • Create and support substitute pools so educators can take advantage of other benefits
  • Use contracts and grants to increase compensation and benefits
  • Establish “income disregards” to help early childhood educators avoid a “benefits cliff”
  • Create and implement compensation scales that include professional benefits

Why Access to Benefits Matters for Early Childhood Educators and Education

• Supports early childhood educator well-being and program quality
• Supports recruitment and retention of early childhood educators
• Promotes gender and racial equity
• Brings in additional funding sources to support early childhood educators

Ultimately, without competitive wages and professional benefits, the early childhood field loses out on excellent educators who simply cannot afford to or will not enter or stay in this field and do this challenging and complex work. The impacts of these losses are felt across communities, as children lose out on sustaining and supportive relationships with educators; families face fewer child care options; educators lose qualified and supportive colleagues, peers, and leaders; and employers lose qualified workers who cannot find or afford the child care they need.

We can and must do better—and we are grateful for the programs, communities, and states that are leading the way. Read on to learn more!