Labor Market Impacts of Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund

This report is a final evaluation of the labor market impacts of Washington, DC’s Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund (PEF). The PEF was initiated to address pay disparities between child care and early childhood education (CCEE) educators and K–12 teachers. Over its first two years, the PEF provided supplement payments ranging from $10,000 to $14,000 annually to over 4,000 CCEE educators in licensed settings. The report utilizes data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and employs a multiple-outcome synthetic control method to assess the program's effects. Findings indicate that the PEF increased CCEE employment in Washington, DC, by 219 educators, approximately 7 percent relative to employment estimates without the PEF. However, there were no significant impacts on the number of CCEE establishments, suggesting that the PEF allowed existing establishments to enhance staffing levels amid ongoing staffing shortages. The report also evaluates the robustness of these findings against various changes in study design and methodology.