Childcare workforce crisis fuels push for wage reforms

Michigan’s early childhood education system faces mounting pressure as providers across the state struggle with staffing shortages, high turnover, rising operational costs, and wages that advocates say remain far too low to sustain the workforce.

In response, the state has launched several workforce-focused initiatives, including a statewide Early Childhood Education (ECE) Wage Pilot designed to strengthen recruitment and retention among childcare educators. State leaders and advocates say the effort reflects a broader recognition that stabilizing the workforce is critical to expanding access to childcare for families.

“Michigan’s early childhood educators are essential to children’s development, family economic stability, and the state’s economy,” says Emily Laidlaw, deputy director at the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP). “The field consistently raises that recruiting and retaining qualified staff is one of the biggest barriers to serving more kids and expanding access.”

Low wages continue driving workforce instability

The wage pilot provides supplemental payments to participating early childhood educators in an effort to improve compensation and reduce turnover in a field long characterized by low pay and limited benefits. According to Anne Kuhnen, policy director at the Michigan League for Public Policy, the urgency behind these initiatives is rooted in long-standing inequities within the profession.

“Childcare workers are among the lowest paid workers in Michigan,” Kuhnen says. “This is despite the very essential work that they do for families, for workers, and for our economy.”

According to MiLEAP’s 2025 case study on the wage pilot, early childhood educators in Michigan historically earned wages that lagged behind similarly credentialed professions, contributing to recruitment challenges, classroom closures, and reduced childcare capacity statewide.

Kuhnen notes that many childcare workers also lack benefits such as health insurance and paid leave, further contributing to financial instability. At the same time, new data on licensed childcare deserts shows that roughly half of Michigan children under age six live in areas with insufficient childcare availability — a problem closely tied to workforce shortages.

For providers working directly with educators, compensation continues to shape nearly every workforce challenge.

“Low wages are certainly the seminal challenge,” says Chana Edmond-Verley, CEO of Vibrant Futures and a regional leader helping implement the wage pilot. “These are credentialed people, and they still on average in our wage pilot were making around $16.53 an hour. We had some folks at $11.”

The case study notes that many childcare educators continue earning wages that fall below what advocates describe as a livable wage in Michigan, despite the field requiring specialized training, credentials, and licensing requirements. Edmond-Verley says turnover remains one of the field’s most destabilizing issues.

“You’ve got this regular churn going on in the field,” she says, noting turnover rates as high as 65%.

Still, early feedback from the wage pilot suggests the supplemental pay is already making a difference for some educators and providers.

“One educator told us that it has been a lifesaver,” Laidlaw says. “It’s really helping to improve staff morale, reduce turnover concerns, and make positions more competitive.”

Edmond-Verley says her region is currently seeing a 94% retention rate among educators participating in the pilot.

Providers struggle to balance wages and rising costs

While workforce initiatives have been welcomed across the sector, providers say wage support alone cannot resolve the broader financial strain facing childcare businesses.

“Sustainability is key,” Laidlaw says. “We can’t solve this complex problem with a two-year grant.”

Providers continue balancing staffing costs alongside rising insurance rates, rent increases, supply costs, and operational expenses.

“We know that serving children has become really a challenge,” Edmond-Verley says. “Insurances are rising, rent continues to go up, and folks are coming to the table wanting higher wages than what they can offer.”

Advocates argue current reimbursement and subsidy systems are failing to keep pace with those realities.

“We know that the current reimbursement subsidy structures are not sufficient,” Kuhnen says. “There’s not a lot of evidence that that’s a priority for lawmakers this year.”

Another growing concern is the impact modest wage increases can have on eligibility for public assistance programs such as SNAP or Medicaid — often referred to as “benefit cliffs.”

While many educators welcomed the wage supplements, providers and workforce leaders say compensation increases can also expose longstanding weaknesses within public benefit systems that many childcare workers rely on to survive.

Edmond-Verley says some educators declined participation in the wage pilot because of concerns about losing benefits.

“What we know from this sector is 70% of them are on some kind of benefit because of the level of wages and lack of benefits that they endure,” she says.

She says some workers feared losing food assistance or facing higher tax burdens that could reduce the overall impact of the wage supplement.

“We were disheartened with the number of folks that were going to have somewhere between $40 to $80 a month cut from their food stamps,” Edmond-Verley says. “You see how it starts to whittle down.”

Kuhnen says Michigan’s safety-net programs do include some phase-out protections intended to reduce abrupt losses in benefits, but she emphasized that the larger issue is that childcare workers remain economically vulnerable in the first place.

“Childcare workers shouldn’t be in such a precarious position in the first place,” Kuhnen says. “These are, in many cases, highly educated and experienced workers … providing an essential service to families and workers.”

Advocates say long-term investment is necessary

Leaders across the sector say Michigan’s wage pilot could provide important data and momentum for future reforms, but many believe lasting progress will require sustained public investment rather than temporary programs.

“The solution to a lot of these workforce challenges is increased and smarter childcare investment,” Kuhnen says. “We lack a holistic approach to funding for this sector.”

Edmond-Verley says the state must begin treating childcare infrastructure as a long-term economic and educational priority.

“A livable wage in Michigan is around $23 now,” she says. “We’ve got to fix the wage issue.”

Without sustained investment, she warns, many families could continue struggling to access stable, high-quality early learning opportunities.

“When we don’t do this, then we are already saying that we’re counting some children out as having opportunity in this state,” Edmond-Verley says.

For now, the demand for workforce support continues to far outpace available funding. Edmond-Verley says more than 700 providers applied for participation in her region’s wage initiative, representing nearly 2,900 educators, though only a fraction could ultimately be funded.

“The need is great. The interest is great,” she says. “And more importantly, our children need that.”

Photos by Nick Hagen.
Chana Edmond-Verley and Anne Kuhnen photos courtesy subjects.

Early Education Matters shares how Michigan parents, childcare providers, and early childhood educators are working together to create more early education opportunities for all little Michiganders. It is made possible with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.