A Cross-National, Historical Analysis of Early Childhood Worker Conditions across North America and Europe

Viren de Jeu ()
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Viren de Jeu: The University of Chicago Center for the Economics of Human Development

No 2026-013, Working Papers from Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group

Abstract: This paper examines how ECW pay, benefits, child-to-worker ratios, and education requirements in the U.S. compare to those in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Canada. It also tracks these measures over time in the U.S., beginning in 1934, when the federal government funded an emergency nursery school system to combat the great depression. Median salary data for ECWs and comparable occupations were collected and annualized using national workweek standards, equated to U.S. dollars using PPP conversion factors, and adjusted to 2025 figures using the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI). In the U.S., Early Childhood Worker purchasing power varied over time, peaking in 1977. Although ECW pay in the U.S. has increased over the past 30 years, early childhood workers in the U.S. still experience the lowest absolute and relative pay among all nations studied. Moreover, in the U.S., childcare workers require the lowest level of education and face the highest child-to-worker ratios.

Keywords: compensation; early childhood; worker qualifications (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I00 J30 N30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
Note: ECI
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http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/deJeu_ ... early-child-work.pdf First version, September 14, 2026 (application/pdf)

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