September 19, 2008
West Virginia Child Care Salaries Rank 47th Lowest in the Nation
by Renate Pore
The research of the last decades is unequivocal. Early childhood is the most critical time in human development. The childcare workers, who care for our young children, are shaping our future.
Child Care Workers in West Virginia earn the lowest salaries in a seven state region and $3,310 less than the national average. Among all 50 states and the District of Columbia, West Virginia ranks 47th in pay for child care workers. Chart 1 shows average pay of $14,810 for year child care workers in West Virginia. West Virginia’s average pay is $1,120 less than Kentucky’s average pay and $6,400 less than Maryland with the highest paid childcare workers in the region.
Child Care Workers in West Virginia generally do not have a college degree but may have education credits in child development and certification through the State Training and Registry System (STARS), a statewide system to teach core competencies in early education and development and support career mobility for child care workers. West Virginia also offers an apprenticeship program where child care workers can earn a certificate in early childhood development.
Chart 2 shows the mean hourly wage for child care workers in the U.S. is $9.05 per hour while in West Virginia the average wage is $7.33 per hour just $1.48 per hour over the 2006 minimum wage of $5.85. In 2008 about 28 percent of West Virginia’s 2,080 child care workers earn at or below the new 2008 minimum wage of $6.55 per hour. At the national level, workers with mean hourly wages comparable to child care workers include parking lot attendants ($8.33), bell hops ($8.83), and animal trainers ($14.39).[i]
The research of the last decades is unequivocal. Early childhood is the most critical time in human development. Half of all West Virginia children under age six live in families where the single parent or both parents work and need some form of child care. An estimated 64,000 West Virginia children under age six are in child care all day or for some part of the day. [ii] The childcare workers, who care for our young children, are shaping our future. The very low wages paid to this segment of the workforce is evidence of a sad neglect of young children in our state’s public policy priorities.
[i] Fact Sheet, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. Information gathered by the Center for the Child Care Workforce, a project of the American Federation of Teachers, and is based on the May 2006 Occupational Employment Statistics, from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[ii] West Virginia Kids Count Data Book, 2007, page 28.