What are the culprits why early childhood education and daycare costs are high but early childhood educators are paid poorly? (US)

So I know there’s a lot of reasons why—

perhaps rents have gone up with the real estate surge lately, so preschools are paying more for their leases

Maybe the labor shortage has sucked a lot of providers out of the field, leaving behind new hires who make less

Maybe COVID fears and fatigue has done likewise

Maybe there are some, like, taxes and inspections that are taking up some of that tuition money. Probably liability insurance?

I also know that if you’re just looking at hourly wage of a childcare worker that’s not including things like insurance and benefits

But I can’t figure it out exactly. I want early childhood educators to be compensated for the important work they do, but I also recognize that people cannot afford preschool. It can’t be so expensive to pay and so low to receive. Is the answer just that if the government is going to require things like certifications and inspections that they need to pay for these things? Any early childhood center owners or educators want to share their perspective?

Submitted August 19, 2022 at 10:35PM by uselessfoster https://ift.tt/kTHFn5h