[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6729]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  NATIONAL CHILD CARE WORTHY WAGE DAY

 Mrs. CARNAHAN. Mr. President, I want to tell you about one of 
my constituents, Julianne Woodle. Julianne was raised in St. Louis and 
went to the University of Missouri-Columbia after high school. As she 
worked toward a bachelor's degree in children and group settings, she 
planned to take her degree and find a job in the classroom. She dreamed 
of working with preschoolers in a childcare center, helping them 
develop the social and mental skills necessary to start school.
  When she graduated in 1998, she started looking for a job. There were 
many available, but none of them paid enough for her to live on. She 
looked for more than a month, but seven or eight dollars an hour was 
the most anyone could pay her. Julianne still dreamed of working with 
young children in a classroom setting, but she had to make a living. It 
was a hard choice, but Julianne decided to go back to school. She hopes 
that a master's degree will allow her to find a job where she can work 
with children and still earn a decent salary.
  It is because of people like Julianne that I cosponsored S.R. 79, 
calling for the designation of May 1, 2001 as ``National Child Care 
Worthy Wage Day.'' This resolution calls on the President to set aside 
the first day in May as ``National Child Care Worthy Wage Day.''
  Study after study has shown that good quality infant and toddler care 
has positive long term effects on children, and that poor quality care 
can have devastating effects. Despite the extreme importance of their 
work, child care providers earn an average of only $7.42 an hour 
nationally. In Missouri the average is even lower, just $7.02 an hour. 
The average housekeeper and restaurant worker make more.
  Child care providers are largely responsible for the social, 
emotional, and mental development of the children in their care, yet we 
do not pay enough to attract qualified individuals to the field. 
Instead young graduates like Julianne, who really want to nurture and 
teach young children, are forced to look elsewhere for jobs. It is a 
pressing national problem, and it deserves recognition and attention 
from our national leaders. The resolution is a symbolic action, but it 
is an important one. We must bring this issue to the forefront of 
public discussion.
  We owe it to our children.

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