The problem of youth unemployment continues to rise in countries around the world, and for many adolescents whose early working lives are marred with challenges and obstacles, such disadvantages are likely to have lifelong implications and to ensure cycles of poverty and inequality. Policy responses to the youth unemployment problem, particularly in the United States, have largely ignored the evidence that adolescents are a unique population that requires both a deeper understanding of the problem and bespoke policy interventions.

This dissertation challenges policymakers to change their perceptions of the problem of youth unemployment to one of work disparities with the purpose of shifting the focus to the social and psychological nuances that are also a part of the problem. Doing so allows for the application to the study of the problem of psychosocial development theory, which posits that individuals develop an identification with work across their pre-adult lifespan, and that work roles, choices, and behaviors are extensions of this process. To understand youth work disparities thus requires examining their identity development experiences.

The findings of the quantitative study provide some support for the relationship between psychosocial development predictors and young adult work outcomes. Furthermore, the examination of the identity development and employment trajectories of 20 Latino males in California revealed stark developmental differences between those who had attained at least a four-year college degree and white-collar employment compared to those who had attained neither and who struggled with unemployment. The findings provide a base from which to develop new policies that focus on supporting developmental pathways to healthy employment outcomes across the pre-adult lifespan.

As California policymakers start to chart a path forward beyond COVID-19, it is important to first understand and reckon with the pandemic’s impact on child care programs and individual educators. This research paper presents findings from a survey of 953 California ECE programs and providers in June-July 2020. The results provide an in-depth view of the past year’s devastation and highlight the unseen costs of operating a child care program throughout the pandemic with little-to-no support.  Survey responses paint a grim picture of early educators fearing for their own health and the health of their families, of providers taking on personal credit card debt to cover program expenses, and a constant scramble to both find and afford essential cleaning supplies in order to meet new health and safety regulations. The key findings from this study should inform the strategic, equitable, and urgent allocation of American Rescue Plan Act stabilization funds in California over the coming months.

This research paper is part of the California ECE COVID-19 Impact Study and expands upon an initial data snapshot released in July 2020.

The current early education system is built on racial inequities.

Racial wage gaps and limitations to professional opportunities exist for women of color across occupations. Regardless of their job or field, women of color experience the greatest wage gaps when compared to white, non- Hispanic men (Hegewisch, Phil, & Hartmann, 2019). These structural inequities impact not only their immediate circumstances, but establish economic inequalities that follow them into retirement (Hogan & Perrucci, 2007).

The historical and pervasive undervaluing of labor performed by women and minorities in the United States has combined to create one of the most underpaid workforces in the country: those who care for and teach young children. The early care and education (ECE) sector is comprised almost exclusively of women, 40 percent of whom are people of color. These educators represent the most racially diverse sector of the teaching workforce, compared to K-12 and postsecondary education in which nearly three-quarters of educators are white (Taie & Goldring, 2017; NCES, n.d.; Myers, 2016). Early educators are among the lowest-paid workers in every state (Whitebook, McLean, Austin, & Edwards, 2018), which creates especially compromised circumstances for African American and Hispanic women in this profession.

Ensuring that early educators have the skills, knowledge, and experiences necessary to implement effective practices and the access to education that provides wage improvement remains critical. Quality improvement leaders and policymakers have increasingly considered alternative instructional and training models to deliver education, including the apprenticeship model, which is gaining favor with many in the early care and education field. This model combines classroom-based learning and on-the-job training to provide the knowledge and skills early educators need in order to implement effective practices in their early education roles. 

In 2019, the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) conducted an evaluation of the SEIU Early Educator Apprenticeship Programs. This evaluation adds to the growing body of evidence that apprenticeship programs present a promising approach to improving the knowledge, skills, and professional identity of early educators. Apprentices who participated in this evaluation benefited from the strategies employed by the apprenticeship programs to remove barriers and support success, and these apprentices reported gains in their knowledge and enhancements to their practices with children and families. The report offers recommendations for future iterations of apprenticeship and on-the-job training programs. 

As California policymakers start to chart a path forward beyond COVID-19, it is important to first understand and reckon with the pandemic’s impact on child care programs and individual educators. This research paper presents findings from a survey of 953 California ECE programs and providers in June-July 2020. The results provide an in-depth view of the past year’s devastation and highlight the unseen costs of operating a child care program throughout the pandemic with little-to-no support.  Survey responses paint a grim picture of early educators fearing for their own health and the health of their families, of providers taking on personal credit card debt to cover program expenses, and a constant scramble to both find and afford essential cleaning supplies in order to meet new health and safety regulations. The key findings from this study should inform the strategic, equitable, and urgent allocation of American Rescue Plan Act stabilization funds in California over the coming months.

This research paper is part of the California ECE COVID-19 Impact Study and expands upon an initial data snapshot released in July 2020.

For decades, low levels of public investment in this sector have kept the ECE workforce—largely women of color and immigrant women—in a grim financial bind.

During the first year of the pandemic, the majority of early educators continued to work in person—risking their health and that of their families—while K-12 schools closed for distance learning. This report reveals new details on the economic realities of life as an early educator during the COVID-19 public health crisis.