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Nationwide child care worker shortage is also impacting Middle Tennessee





In this May 27, 2020 photo, teachers Jana Blair, right, and Aaron Rainboth, upper left, wear masks as they work with kids examining a spider they found on the playground at the Frederickson KinderCare daycare center, in Tacoma, Wash.Ted S. Warren / Associated Press

In this May 27, 2020 photo, teachers Jana Blair, right, and Aaron Rainboth, upper left, wear masks as they work with kids examining a spider they found on the playground at the Frederickson KinderCare daycare center, in Tacoma, Wash.Ted S. Warren / Associated Press

Many industries are struggling to find employees to fill open roles, but few, if any, have been hit harder than the child care industry.

In a recent study by the Washington Post, child care employment is down more than 126,000 workers since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a decrease of over 10%.

The losses experienced in this industry have shown no signs of slowing down, as 10,000 workers have left for different careers since the beginning of June.

That has also been the experience of many businesses and education establishments in Middle Tennessee.

Bright Horizons, Southern Starts Montessori Preschool, Twinkle Toes Nanny Agency Nashville, and many more are all currently looking for individuals in the child care industry.

So why is there so much difficulty in finding child care workers?

Among the underlying reasons for the shortage of child care employees are minimal salaries, as the average wage is $15 per hour.

While this wage might have been enough to live on at one time, restaurants, retail shops and other industries are making it their starting wage. Amazon recently announced it is increasing its starting wage to $18 per hour.

 

 

The average annual salary for the child care industry is just over $25,000, which puts it in the bottom 2% of all professions in the United States.

The study also included a report from Georgetown University that states individuals who obtain an early childhood education degree earn the lowest mid-career earnings out of 137 degrees including social work, drama and theater arts, and elementary education.

Elizabeth Michelle, who is a nanny in the Middle Tennessee area for websites like ‘Care.com’ and ‘Ubransitter.com’, said she is surprised by the lack of child care workers.

“You would think with all of the shortages in the industry that it would help the demand, but it hasn’t,” she said. “It’s just the environment that we are in now because of COVID-19.”

She explains that a majority of the wages she receives for nannying range anywhere from $15 to $20 per hour, although she believes it could increase.

“I think since everyone was locked in their houses for a year, it could possibly lead to more newborns,” she said. “I read a research report saying there could be a lot more newborns babies on the way here.”

The study she is referring to comes from the University of Michigan’s Health Lab, which suggests the pandemic initially slowed down conception rates but experts anticipate a baby surge shortly.

While Michelle remains hopeful, birth rates remain low.

Whereas many thought there would be an increase in babies due to the prolonged quarantine periods from COVID-19, the baby boom has appeared to be more of a baby bust thus far.

The decrease in newborns could lead to an even bigger drop-off for individuals in the child care industry, as the amount of births has consistently decreased over the past decade.

Whether the boom will take place or not remains to be seen, but for the sake of individuals like Michelle and other workers in the child care industry, the sooner the surge occurs the better the industry will look moving forward.

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