Early Learning Workforce

Early educators are essential to providing children with a high-quality early learning experience that will lay the foundation for their growth and development.

Early education is in crisis.

Early education programs are struggling to stay fully staffed, with many closing their doors or enrolling fewer children. Low pay leads to early educators leaving their jobs, which creates a shortage of programs that working families (and our economy) depend on. Many early educators in our county make an hourly wage that is one-third of what is needed to make ends meet; and yet, these professionals are responsible for educating the next generation of learners.

High-quality early learning programs are critical to positive child development, and the lack of available and affordable programs leave families scrambling. With fewer spaces in early learning programs, parents struggle to stay in the workforce. Recent estimates show that insufficient early education in California costs parents, businesses, and taxpayers $17 billion each year.

Click here to download a one-pager about Supporting the Child Care Workforce

Building a Stronger Early Care and Education Workforce

At First 5 Contra Costa’s “Coffee & Kids” policy breakfast on May 26, 2026, community leaders, educators, advocates, and policymakers discussed the challenges facing the early care and education (ECE) workforce and explored strategies to strengthen recruitment, retention, compensation, and career pathways for educators. Guest Speakers, including Anna Powell, Pamm Shaw, First 5 Commissioners Marilyn Cachola Lucey and Gareth Ashley, and Congressman Mark DeSaulnier highlighted that child care professionals are essential not only to children’s development but also to the local economy, while emphasizing that current wages and supports often do not reflect the value of their work.

The event also featured research on ECE workforce economics, examples of local workforce-support programs, preliminary findings from a countywide landscape analysis, and discussions on future investments needed to build a more sustainable and equitable early education system in Contra Costa County.

Click here to read the full recap (and download resources presented)

Preview Emerging Insights on Strengthening the ECE Workforce

Click here to download a DRAFT executive summary of an upcoming landscape analysis examining early care and education workforce supports and opportunities for future investment in Contra Costa County. Drawing on research, stakeholder input, and local program profiles, the analysis highlights promising strategies to strengthen and stabilize the workforce, including improving compensation and benefits, prioritizing retention-focused supports, and expanding credit-bearing career pathways.

The report, which will be finalized this summer, will include profiles of existing ECE workforce supports in the county, and synthesize the current research literature and local stakeholders’ perspectives on what is needed to stabilize and expand our ECE workforce.

See the Data Behind Contra Costa’s Early Care and Education Workforce

Download The Early Care and Education Workforce of Contra Costa County report (or its executive summary) to explore data from a survey of more than 500 early educators in our county. The finding provide a detailed snapshot of the workforce’s fiscal and holistic well-being offering valuable insights into workforce sustainability.

Learn more about the research behind this new wage boost pilot for early educators

First 5 Contra Costa has commissioned several efforts to inform the development of this new pilot program:

Download the Designing a Wage Increase Pilot report to learn about the proposed wage boost pilot program and the national research that informed the design.

Download the Wage Enhancement for Early Educators report to learn how First 5 Contra Costa engaged educators and stakeholders to shape the pilot.

Download the Summary of Stakeholder Input Sessions to hear from local early educators about their fiscal challenges and ideas how an enhanced compensation might support the field.

If we don’t act, we risk more educators leaving the profession, fewer quality programs for families and less access to early care and education. Click here to view individuals and organizations who support a wage-boost solution.