The pandemic compounded existing labor issues in child care and early education – GBH
By Mackenzie Farkus
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges and exacerbated long-existing problems in early education and child care, from labor shortages to the industry’s low pay scales.
Lauren Kennedy, the co-founder of the affordable child care advocacy group Neighborhood Villages, joined Boston Public Radio to share how early education and child care workers and advocates have fared throughout the pandemic.
Kennedy said Massachusetts “has actually been leading the nation in setting up a comprehensive testing program for the early education and care sector” due to pooled testing for participating early education and care providers, as well as the distribution of rapid tests.
“Since June of 2021, [Massachusetts] has really invested in building an infrastructure and architecture and a plan to be able to meet moments like this,” Kennedy told hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan.
Although testing access and COVID-19 tracking measures have benefitted the industry recently, Kennedy believes the pandemic is a “crisis layered upon a crisis” as providers see increased demand for child care amid an exacerbated labor shortage.
“In this moment, it's not just programs competing with each other for teachers; they're competing against McDonald's, they're competing against Amazon,” Kennedy said. “And we can't — there is no room in this field to raise wages to be at a competitive level. Because like any industry, that would mean passing the cost off onto parents and parents can't pay it.”