Jason Benell lives in Des Moines with his wife and two children. He is a combat veteran, former city council candidate, and president of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers. A version of this essay first appeared on his Substack newsletter, The Odd Man Out.

Essential workers. What comes to mind first for most folks are the EMTs, police, nurses, and firefighters. Then, if they think a bit more, I’ll hear about postal workers, logistics personnel like truckers and train conductors, waste management workers, and utility workers. If you badger folks again, they will mention food service workers, grocery store shelf stockers and clerks, and maybe some of the folks specific to their industry or lifestyle. You really gotta dig down a lot of times to get to folks like teachers, home health care workers, or retirement home staff. 

However, there is a profession that I consider more crucial than many of the above, because without it the others might become non-starters.

I’m talking about child care workers, in particular, early childhood education workers and day care providers.

For every heroic tale of the firefighter who got to an emergency, or postal worker who got that package delivered in the last mile, there is someone taking care of the kids. They could be at home, with a spouse, a sibling, or a relative, but child care is the bare minimum so many of us need to be a functional member of society. Yet, somehow, the profession is considered “important, but—” or mocked as somehow a low-effort, not critically important job, something others (often women) are expected to do as a matter of course. That is a ridiculous response to such a vital profession and a necessary thing for our economies, not only in the Midwest but worldwide.

Think about how necessary it is for young people to have supervision and care, so the rest of us can do our jobs. Think about how much more difficult it would be for an ER doctor to get to the office if they couldn’t find child care for their seven-year-old. Would we expect them to bring the kid in to work?

What about those brave police officers who show up during tough weather events or during a pandemic? A five-year-old should be in the back with an iPad while dad dashes out to a disturbance?

This is not a trivial matter. Anyone who has been responsible for young children knows just how devastating it is to lose reliable and trustworthy child care. It can have cascading effects too, especially when it comes to the workplace. Folks responsible for young children who lack reliable child care have a lower chance to be promoted, fewer educational prospects, and can be restricted from fully participating in workplace culture.

So many employers take the position that child care is Not Their Problem. Folks lacking stable child care can lose out on opportunities as a result.

Child care workers are essential.

Let us not get this twisted, though: child care workers aren’t there solely to facilitate other folks going out of the home to earn money. Early childhood education and socialization is extremely important for its own sake as well. Data show again and again that the best way to set up a successful citizenry is to have an educated, emotionally regulated, and healthy citizenry. That starts as early as a year old. There is no downside to providing young children with a more stable and educational environment; all data points to it being better in every way. 

Furthermore, the lower the income, socioeconomic status, and opportunities for a household, the more early childhood education can help turn that around. Kids who receive early education read at a higher level when entering school, tend to drop out less, and have a more successful academic career than those who don’t. Breaking a generation of poverty often starts before a child can walk, and access to quality child care can provide that bedrock of stability and safety. Children are more acclimated to different cultures and ideas and retain knowledge better than if they started to learn at age 5 or 6 in kindergarten. 

I cannot stress enough just how important and beneficial early childhood education is alongside stable and high-quality child care, not only for the health and safety of children, but for the functioning of our society.  

Yet, child care workers are some of our society’s most underpaid and underappreciated workers. The topmost earners for a child care worker in Iowa is about $45,000 a year, and the average hovers around $30,000. This is for a job that has exponential returns for all of us in nearly every metric, including fiscally! Children who grow up with good early educations go on to become higher earners, pay more taxes, commit less crimes, use less emergency services, and so on and so on.

It is a bedrock good thing to have child care and early childhood education, yet as a society, we let these folks qualify for food assistance (SNAP benefits) while taking care of the SNAP benefit workers’ kids. Because of the low reimbursement rates from state programs, workers are consistently underpaid and undervalued economically, despite being crucial for the well being and sustainability of our economy.

How can we claim to care about the future of our children when we relegate the child care providers to economic vulnerability?

How can we claim to care about the future when we lower the certification standards for educators and create barriers to the certifications that exist?

How can we claim to care about the future of our children when we make it harder for low-income families to get that good education and child care, with layers of red tape and multiple methods to disqualify families from programs?

On this, actions speak louder than words and platitudes.

Iowa and many other states need to do more to increase the status and viability of early childhood education, instead of cutting programs that benefit children and families. Opening slots and making fanfare about programs or looking at raw dollars being spent isn’t going to cut it.

The education and well-being of our children ought to be viewed with the same seriousness as all the other workers mentioned at the top of this piece. Without these workers, our economy doesn’t get off the ground. Without them, generations of children will be more likely to struggle academically. Without them, our communities will become more fragile and more disconnected as our children are kept isolated from one another and one another’s culture.

So, why doesn’t this issue come to mind when we think of essential workers? Why is this profession not respected culturally, economically, or politically when it is so obviously and demonstrably important to our well-being? Think about this when you next drop off or pick up the kiddos from day care or that pre-K class. Think about it when you see a coworker or family member struggling with making an appointment during a tough snow day.

Most important, think about these workers when you vote. Ask your political leaders to prioritize early childhood education, not just ensuring high quality education, but making sure those folks that are providing that service are taken care of as well. When we build community and look at child care, it is about the kids and it’s about the families, but it’s also about the people who make it all happen.

Child care workers are essential workers, and it is time we started giving them the respect—and pay—they deserve.