Workforce Data

State-level collection of important data on the size, characteristics, and working conditions of the ECE workforce

Creating good jobs for the early care and education (ECE) workforce requires multiple integrated strategies. The National ECE Workforce Center recognizes this need and organizes its work around five essential policy areas, or key topics, identified by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) Early Childhood Workforce Index as being critical for supporting the ECE workforce and higher-quality services for children and families. Each of these policy areas directly impacts the ECE workforce’s ability to thrive, which in turn improves recruitment and retention of early educators, stabilizes services for families, supports small business and the economy, aids parents’ ability to work and seek out job training and education, and leads to improved outcomes for children and families.

Comprehensive workforce data is needed to answer key policy questions and develop estimates of funding levels necessary to recruit and retain qualified ECE professionals. Without it, limited or spotty data drive policy decisions.

Key challenges

While nearly all states collect at least some ECE workforce data via a voluntary registry and/or survey, the type, breadth, and quality of data (including educator characteristics and program type) varies greatly. Policymakers, advocates, and other stakeholders often don’t have the data they need to answer basic questions about the ECE workforce and address differences and solutions.

Promising approaches

A robust, appropriately funded statewide user-friendly workforce registry provides critical data infrastructure to track long-term information about and communicate with early educators. The National Workforce Registry Alliance has developed a set of common data elements and quality standards that states can use to develop or improve their registry data. Periodic surveys can supplement registry data to capture details on workforce experiences, perceptions, and the impacts of policy initiatives.

For a deeper dive into the status of workforce data and state progress in this space, see the Early Childhood Workforce Index chapter on this topic, and for more resources to support your own efforts to strengthen workforce data, see the section below.