Childcare Workers Can’t Afford Childcare: The Wage Crisis Driving America’s Care Shortage

Becky Fisher earns less than $20 an hour watching other people’s children in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Most of her paycheck goes right back to the center where she works — for before- and after-school care for her own two sons.

She is not an outlier. She is the business model.

The U.S. childcare system runs on poverty wages. Median pay for childcare workers sits near $14.60 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That places the profession in the bottom 5% of all occupations. Yet the service they provide costs families an average of $13,000 a year per child — more than in-state tuition at a public university in most states.

The math does not work. It has not worked for decades. The pandemic briefly papered it over with $52 billion in federal stabilization grants. That money expired in September 2024. Since then, the structural rot has reappeared: waitlists, classroom closures, and parents — mostly mothers — leaving the workforce because they cannot find or afford a slot.

In Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, the race between Democratic nominee Bob Brooks and Republican incumbent Ryan Mackenzie has turned into a proxy fight over who gets the bill. Brooks, a retired firefighter, backs universal pre-K and expanded Head Start funding. Mackenzie, a father of two toddlers, cosponsored a bill to expand the federal childcare tax credit and incentivize employer-sponsored care. That measure was folded into the broader Republican tax package.

Neither proposal addresses the supply side.

“Every parent is exhausted,” Fisher said. “But so is every teacher.”

Fisher, 42, grew up in a conservative Christian household and voted for George W. Bush. She switched parties in 2024, backing Kamala Harris. This year, she is undecided again. She wants a candidate who understands that the crisis is not just about tuition prices — it is about a workforce that cannot survive on what parents can pay.

The numbers bear that out. Child Care Aware of America reports that center-based infant care now exceeds $17,000 annually in Pennsylvania. At the same time, the state has lost nearly 1,000 licensed providers since 2020, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. Staffing is the primary driver. Directors say they cannot hire assistants at $13 an hour when Amazon warehouses start at $18.

Jenny Escolastico, an Air Force veteran and former HR professional living outside Allentown, ran the numbers last year. Full-time care for her two children would have cost more than her projected take-home pay. She stayed home. Her husband’s income covers the mortgage, barely. She voted for Donald Trump in 2024. Now she is weighing a Democratic ballot.

“Childcare is another rent, another car note,” she said.

Trump once proposed funding childcare subsidies through tariff revenue. That plan never materialized. In April, he told an Easter luncheon, “We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of daycare.”

The disconnect is national. An AP-NORC poll in June found 74% of adults call childcare costs a major problem. Sixty-four percent support federal funding for free or low-cost care for children under 5. Yet Congress has not passed comprehensive childcare legislation since the Child Care and Development Block Grant reauthorization in 2014.

The Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy, a super PAC backed by labor unions and progressive donors, has spent $60 million this cycle on state and federal races. Its polling shows childcare moves voters across party lines. Deputy Executive Director Phoebe Kilgour calls it “the rare issue that cuts through partisanship because everyone knows someone paying for it.”

Lerin Hagenbuch, a special education teacher in Allentown and a registered Republican, remembers searching for infant care three years ago. Every option would have required her to take a second job. Her son is in kindergarten now. She still has not decided how to vote.

“If these moms or dads who are staying at home were able to even work part time, what a shift that would be,” she said.

The shift would be measurable. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis estimates that lack of affordable childcare keeps 1.2 million women out of the labor force annually. The Council for a Strong America puts the economic cost at $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity, and revenue.

Fisher’s center in Bethlehem has three vacant classrooms. Not for lack of demand — the waitlist tops 80 families. They cannot staff the rooms. She knows five teachers who left in the last year for retail and logistics jobs. One now manages a shift at a distribution center. She makes $3 more an hour and gets weekends off.

“We’re educating the next generation,” Fisher said. “But we’re paid like it’s babysitting.”

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