Connecticut advocate for childcare Allyx Schiavone traveled to the nation’s capital Tuesday for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
“He made it clear we need to invest in our early care and education for the working families, it’s really now up to congress to act,” Allyx Schiavone, who is the executive director for Friends Center for Children, said.
Access and affordability to daycare has been an ongoing issue.
“The system is completely broken, so it doesn’t work for any of the constituent groups: parents pay too much, providers make too little, educators don’t have a livable wage,” Schiavone said.
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According to data collected by Child Care Aware, a national network of more than 400 childcare agencies, the national average cost of daycare in 2020 was $10,000.
In Connecticut, the average annual cost of care for an infant or toddler is over $15,000 per year, according to CT Voices for Children.
Meanwhile, the average hourly wage for a daycare worker is $13.22, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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“We don’t value women and children enough in our society to pay them a livable wage, we are paying women poverty-level wage in 40 states in the childcare industry,” Schiavone said.
In addition, experts say there is a worker shortage across the industry. Daycare owner Beth Scarpati saw it firsthand when she opened her center in June.
“Because of that myself and my assistant were physically in the rooms being the teacher, I just finally got over that hump in December and found some great staff,” Academy of Early Learning owner Beth Scarpati said.
Experts predict the worker shortage will improve. There will be a 6% job growth over the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
