The need doesn't stop with infant care. Child-care providers say the demand is also growing for services before and after school, as more parents decide they don't want to be raising latchkey children. In Fairfax, for example, the number fell 14 percent, to 2,079, while calls from parents seeking help locating child care rose 7 percent. It's not surprising to those who study day care that child-care providers are quitting in droves. Given their generally high level of education, they are among the worst-paid workers in the country, according to the Center for the Child Care Workforce, a nonprofit research and advocacy group.
Benefits are often meager or nonexistent.
She also sells window blinds. In two hours, I made 200 bucks. I wasn't doing that with . . . At any rate, they say, the jobs don't pay enough. And thus far, these programs haven't produced enough workers to narrow the gap.