More than 40,000 California child-care providers who watch the children of low-income workers have secured a 20% average pay increase under a tentative union agreement with the state — a "watershed moment" for an industry dominated by immigrant women of color, labor officials and experts said.
In addition to the $600 million to fund the rate increase over two years, the new contract provides $80 million to create the nation's first retirement fund for child-care providers, and $100 million for healthcare funding. Less than a quarter of family child-care providers reported any retirement savings, according to research from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley.
And in a key contract win, the state has agreed to a timeline to overhaul the way rates are calculated for providers who receive subsidies to care for the children of low-income families. Currently, voucher rates are based on a 2016 market survey of the prices families pay for care in each region. But since actual child-care costs are more than most parents can afford, the subsidies do not come close to covering all of the expenses for high-quality care, according to a report from California's Rate and Quality Workgroup.
