While many workers in the service economy are underpaid and undervalued, child care workers, quite literally, hold the future in their hands. The fundamental problem in child care is that the tuition that most parents can afford to pay is too low to provide consistent quality, including adequate compensation for the teachers. The underfunding of child care is due to the perception of child care as a market good, not a public good. Taxpayers save in the costs of future schooling, especially through reductions in special education and grade retention. Teachers and other children benefit from being in schools with children who attended high quality child care centers.
All citizens gain through reduced crime, juvenile delinquency and public assistance costs.
Working parents who face fewer child-related absences or terminations can remain more securely attached to the labor market. A discussion of public benefits must also go beyond a discussion of costs and benefits. The fact that so many child care teachers are paid poverty wages and are not provided with health insurance is completely at odds with American beliefs about honoring hard work, responsibility, and family. While there are certainly enormous private benefits to investing in quality child care, it is dangerous to rely solely upon market-based imperatives. The market does not supply adequate language to capture the value of caring for children.