Child care providers are among the lowest paid workers in the United States. Inadequate
compensation has led many qualified practitioners to leave the field for higher paying
jobs, decreasing the quality of available care. At the same time, families continue to deal
with the persistent problem of finding affordable high-quality child care at a time of
growing need. Increasing awareness of this problem has prompted policymakers, advocates,
and practitioners to help qualified staff earn higher wages and remain in their
field. In this report, we review preliminary findings on the implementation and early
effects of publicly supported compensation initiatives on the child care workforce.