Press Release: 10/1/2026

Harvard economist: To close the child care gap, start by raising early educator wages by $6 per hour

 

Alyssa Haywoode

OCTOBER 1, 2026

 

Harvard Kennedy School Professor Jeffrey Liebman joined The 9:30 Call last month to share his research on the economics of early education and care and on the need to secure public funding and pay educators more. 

“I started digging into some of the data and trying to think about why it was that families are struggling so much to find and afford care, and providers are struggling so much to cover their costs given the rates and to retain staff and recruit staff,” Liebman said on the call. 

 

“I started doing research on it, and it was pretty clear… that there’s no reason to think, absent big government involvement, that the early education system can work anymore than K to 12 would work if you told everyone, Hey, go find some private provider to get yourself an education, and, we’ll subsidize a few people at the bottom, but everyone else, do your best.”

Liebman has written two working papers and a policy brief that explore the demand for child care (how much care parents want) as well as the statewide gaps in capacity, quality, and affordability.

“I think the main thing one needs to do on the quality gap is raise wages for early educators,” Liebman added on the call.

And as his policy brief explains, “Low wages for early educators are leading to high turnover and uneven quality. The median early education teacher earns only $25 an hour (50,000 per year). It would require an additional $6 to $12 per hour to achieve parity with new kindergarten teachers.”

The need is urgent.

“These gaps have real consequences for Massachusetts families and the state’s economy,” the policy brief adds. “Children miss out on the classroom interactions and early learning opportunities that lay the foundation for lifelong success. Parents, particularly mothers, find it difficult to enter the labor market and advance in their careers. Employers struggle to attract and retain the talent they need to grow.”

Liebman’s work was covered this summer by The Boston Globe in the article, “New study from Harvard offers a solution to the child care crisis: Pay workers more.”

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