https://www.fcd-us.org/roots-of-decline-how-government-policy-has-de-educated-teachers-of-young-children/
Dan Bellm and Marcy Whitebook document how federal policy on child care and early education led to a decline in wages and education among staff in early childhood programs.
A report published by the Economic Policy Institute–Losing Ground in Early Childhood Education: Declining Workforce Qualifications in an Expanding Industry, 1979-2004 (Herzenberg, Price & Bradley, 2005) – gained significant attention upon its release. The authors, a team of labor economists and policy analysts, examined Current Population Survey (CPS) and Census Bureau data from the past 25 years to document what many in the early care and education (ECE) field have long suspected, known only anecdotally, or studied on a smaller scale.