Registered apprenticeships: a viable career path for the early childhood workforce

Registered apprenticeships: a viable career path for the early childhood workforce

Collection:
Health Policy and Services Research
Contributor(s):
Bipartisan Policy Center, issuing body.
Publication:
Washington, D.C. : Bipartisan Policy Center, September 2019
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Child Care
Credentialing
Inservice Training
Workforce
United States
Genre(s):
Technical Report
Abstract:
A young child's healthy development requires stable, caring, interactive, and positive relationships with their parents, family members, and other caregivers. These adults help shape a child's earliest experiences, which affects their chances for success throughout life: The emotional and physical health, social skills, and cognitive and linguistic capacities that emerge in the early years are all important for success in school, the workplace, and in the larger community. In today's economy, an increasing number of children from working families are benefiting from relationships with caregivers outside of the home. These individuals have an undeniable impact on shaping a child's successful development, as demonstrated by decades of neurological and child development outcomes. Additionally, these caregivers allow parents to work and go to school to provide for their families. Yet child care workers remain in the near-bottom percentile (second to last) when all occupations are ranked by annual earnings. The average national median hourly wage for child care workers was $10.72 in 2017, falling from $13.74 in 2016. These wages are below the poverty line in nearly every state. More than 50 percent of child care workers, compared with 21 percent of the overall U.S. workforce, were enrolled in at least one public support or health care program. Even as wages decrease, demand for a highly educated early childhood workforce is increasing. Unfortunately, acquiring a degree or improving skills while on the job is a challenging task for the current and future early childhood workforce. A 2018 Department of Labor (DOL) report showed the early childhood workforce faces significant barriers to higher education and professional-development systems. In order to advance the healthy development of children and the strength of communities, it is crucial that the United States develops innovative solutions to improve the quality of the early childhood workforce. One innovative model is well-established in other industries: registered apprenticeships.
Copyright:
The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
Extent:
1 online resource (1 PDF file (10 pages))
NLM Unique ID:
101767900 (See catalog record)
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101767900