Poster #76 - Workforce Turnover in Child Care Centers: Employer Support, Career Pathways, and Precarity in Exit Intentions

• In Event: Saturday Poster Luncheon

Abstract

Licensed child care centers facilitate parental labor force participation, especially among women, and as such are an essential infrastructure for families and the economy (childcare.gov, n.d.; Cook & Staab, 2022; Herbst, 2023; Morrissey, 2017). However, the child care field faces a significant workforce turnover problem, with annual attrition rates frequently ranging from 26% to 40% (Bassok et al., 2021; Totenhagen et al., 2016). This instability is largely driven by historically suboptimal working conditions, including low wages and limited access to employment benefits (Gould, 2015). Moreover, this economic precarity creates a profound equity issue given that women comprise 94% of the child care workforce, and African American and Hispanic early educators are overrepresented in early childhood occupations, specifically assistant teacher roles and work with infants and toddlers (Austin et al., 2019; Banerjee et al., 2021). To stabilize this fragile labor supply, center directors and policymakers must understand the exact mechanisms that retain educators. This research investigates the extent to which center-level interventions in New Jersey, specifically perceived employer support and clear career pathways, relate to turnover intent, while accounting for the underlying financial insufficiency prevalent among the workforce. 

This poster will present regression analyses examining individual, classroom, and center-based factors associated with intention to leave the field and whether or not these relationships differ between lead and assistant teachers. Findings are derived from a novel statewide survey (n=1,953) of lead and assistant teachers in New Jersey, fielded in November 2024. Estimates demonstrate that supportive center leadership, clear career pathways, and income sufficiency operate as vital protective factors against intention to leave the field. Role-specific models reveal a divergence in retention mechanisms; lead teachers are significantly retained by the promise of career advancement and supportive leadership, whereas assistant teachers’ exit intent is insensitive to future career pathways. 

This research uniquely offers meaningful comparisons by job role across key dimensions of workers’ experience in the child care field. While a significant and growing body of research has examined the experiences of lead teachers, considerably less attention has been given to the perspectives of assistant teachers, whose classroom roles and employment in the child care center differ from those of their peers (Sosinky & Gilliam, 2011; Jacoby, 2025). These findings provide insight into approaches to strengthen retention efforts, as well as to advance career pathway development and worker supports across New Jersey’s child care workforce.

Authors

• Liana Lin, Rutgers University - New Brunswick
  Presenting Author

• María Belén Conde, Rutgers University - New Brunswick
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Andrea Hetling, Rutgers University - New Brunswick
  Non-Presenting Co-Author