336,000+ Early Education and Care Workers Lost Their Job In April

The monthly job report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics came out today and it was predictably bad for everyone and people in early childhood care and education were especially hard hit with the report showing 336,000 who are classified in the child day care services category having lost their jobs.

According to page 3 in the report “Employment declined by 2.5 million in education and health services in April. In health care, employment declined by 1.4 million, led by losses in offices of dentists (-503,000), offices of physicians (-243,000), and offices of other health care practitioners (-205,000). Employment also declined in social assistance (-651,000), reflecting job losses in child day care services (-336,000) and individual and family services (-241,000). Employment in private education declined by 457,000 over the month.”

However, these numbers most likely underestimate the scope of the job losses. The website Five Thirty Eight explained in an article today why these numbers are under-counting the job losses writing “these numbers are already out of date. The jobs report is based on surveys of businesses and households taken during the middle of April, but the economic situation likely worsened as the month went on. And key metrics, like the unemployment rate, aren’t capturing all the people who are actually out of work right now”

These numbers underscore the need for investments in the early education and care industry championed by Massachusetts Congresswomen Katherine Clark and Senator Elizabeth Warren.