State agency and SRI present data showing a statewide shortfall in Oregon childcare workforce

Alyssa Chatterjee, director of the Department of Early Learning and Care, told the House Committee on Higher Education and Workforce Development on Feb. 11 that Oregon’s early childhood system counts about 24,000 practitioners as of 2022 and is short “just under 3,000” workers statewide.

Chatterjee said the Department, established July 1, 2023, oversees licensing, preschool and infant–toddler programs, and professional learning for a workforce that includes teachers, family child‑care providers, coaches, mentors, home visitors, program administrators and licensors. "We need a workforce that can support the variety of settings that children receive care," she said.

The SRI International presentation of the 2024 Oregon talent assessment reinforced those figures. Christiana McFarland, director in SRI’s Center for Innovation Strategy and Policy, told the panel that the assessment estimates a childcare labor shortage of about 3,000 workers (nearly 13% of the workforce) and that child‑care occupations have the largest labor gap among the sectors SRI studied. The analysis also found average annual earnings for childcare workers are roughly $35,000 compared with $65,000 for all occupations in Oregon.

Chatterjee and SRI cited several workforce characteristics: the sector is predominantly female (Chatterjee: “95% of the workforce identifies as women”), about 35% of workers identify as people of color, and education varies by setting (centers have a higher share of staff with bachelor’s degrees). Chatterjee said small home‑based providers are more likely to speak a primary language other than English.

Programmatic supports the department highlighted include the Oregon Registry (a professional development registry administered by Portland State’s Oregon Center for Career Development), a higher education consortium of seven colleges and one university that served 560 students in its first year, and degree‑pathway scholarships administered by the Oregon Center for Career Development. Chatterjee said the department spent about $500,000 on scholarships in the first eight months of administration, supporting 102 students.

Both speakers said low wages drive recruitment and retention problems. Chatterjee noted center‑based staff average $16–$22 per hour; SRI described the pay gap as a principal cause of supply problems and of inequitable burdens on low‑income and rural families. SRI also reported that six in 10 Oregon families live in a “child care desert” (counties with more than three children per regulated slot).

Chatterjee and McFarland referenced the 2023 House Bill 2991 workforce barriers report and said the document’s recommendations address compensation, competencies, career pathways, professional learning and higher education; Chatterjee said the department is working with Portland State University on revisions to the Registry to implement some recommendations.

The committee asked about turnover, operating hours and regional differences in program types and training. Chatterjee said turnover has been relatively steady (about 20–24% over the past decade) but that the sector is no longer backfilling those losses, producing an overall decline in workforce size. She also said Preschool Promise sites can operate under Head Start performance standards or in home‑based settings and that operating hours vary among providers; the department has no uniform minimum hours for licensed providers.

The testimony framed workforce development — apprenticeships, scholarships, registry modernization and on‑the‑job training — as central to addressing shortages, but both presenters emphasized the limits of state authority to directly raise compensation and noted that multiple interventions will be required.

Ending: Committee members invited follow‑up information on average professional‑development costs and regional breakdowns of Preschool Promise sites; Chatterjee offered to provide additional data at a later date.