Poster #114 - Characteristics of the early care and education workforce 2012-2019: analyses by demographic groups

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Historically, Black, Indigenous, and immigrant women have faced discrimination in the labor market (Johnson-Straub, 2017); for this reason, many found work in domestic care services, which has led to the current over-representation of women of color in the early care and education (ECE) workforce (Lloyd et al., 2022). Given longstanding devaluing of domestic care services, as well as discrimination, there remain disparities in professional opportunities and wages by race, language, and country of origin (Austin et al., 2019; Boyd-Swan & Herbst, 2019). At the same time, diversity in ECE settings has been identified as a critically important aspect of quality (Schilder & Sandstrom, 2021), and many initiatives seek to recruit and retain diverse workforce members. Descriptive, representative analyses provide researchers and policymakers benchmarks by which they can identify gaps and measure progress towards developing and sustaining a diverse workforce who are offered equitable opportunities for career development. Thus, the focus of this research was on examining national trends in ECE workforce demographics, across both center-based and home-based ECE settings. We examined the educational and professional development characteristics of the workforce by race and ethnicity, languages spoken, and nativity status. Using the nationally-representative 2012 and 2019 National Surveys of Early Care and Education (NSECE), we examined the following research questions: 1) What were the demographic characteristics of the ECE workforce (in centers and homes) in 2019? Did these change between 2012 to 2019 among different provider types (center-based, home-based), different provider settings (e.g., Head Start, public pre-k), and different center-based provider roles (i.e., lead versus assistant teacher)? 2) What were the professional characteristics (e.g., education level, professional development) of the ECE workforce by demographic characteristics in 2019? How do these differ from the 2012 estimates? Findings indicated that the demographic characteristics of center- and home-based providers were similar over time (see Table 1). However, findings revealed changes in the demographic makeup within center sponsor: the percentage of teachers in school-sponsored programs who identified as Non-Hispanic Black declined from 14% in 2012 to 9% in 2019. The percentage of teachers in Head Start who identified as Hispanic/Latino declined from 21% to 15%; meanwhile, the percentage in public pre-K funded centers grew from 17% to 21%. There were also changes in the educational and professional characteristics of the ECE workforce. For instance, the proportion of the center-based non-Hispanic White workforce with a bachelor’s degree in ECE decreased from 23% to 17%. The proportion of the home-based non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black workforce with a bachelor’s degree or higher grew slightly (1-2%), and the proportion in each group who majored in an ECE-related field grew by at least 8 percentage points. National estimates provide a foundation from which targets can be set; tracking these demographic estimates over time can pave the way for additional work examining shifts in national demographic trends, policy trends, and other trends that may help explain variation in workforce demographics. These analyses can illuminate the settings and roles with greater or less diversity and equity of opportunity for professional development.

Author

• Katherine Paschall, Child Trends -Maryland
  Presenting Author