A substantial number of child-care centers offer no health care benefits to any teaching staff. Reduced child care fees for workers' children, however, is a common benefit. Wage levels, employee benefits, and resulting turnover depends in part on the type of child-care center. Nonprofit and religiously affiliated centers generally pay higher wages and offer more generous benefits than for-profit establishments. In addition to openings created by rapid employment growth, an unusually large number of job openings will result each year from the need to replace experienced workers who leave the industry.
Turnover is very high, reflecting the low wages and relatively meager benefits.
Rapid growth coupled with high turnover should create excellent employment opportunities. The rising demand for child-care services reflects demographic trends. The interplay of these forces increased very rapidly the number of women in the labor force with children young enough to require child care. The number of women of childbearing age is expected to grow very slowly and the number of children under age 5 will decline during this period before rising to just above 1998 levels. Nevertheless, the demand for child care services will remain high.