Early childhood educators have long been forced to make do with limited resources, from inadequate staffing and preparation to stagnant wages and, often, an overall lack of respect from the public or understanding about their roles.

That’s what we heard repeatedly during the nine months we spent last year exploring the work lives of early childhood education professionals. And it’s what we saw first-hand during reporting trips to more than 11 center- and home-based child care programs nationwide, from California to Connecticut.

With the arrival of the pandemic, these resources have become even more scarce and the obstacles even more complex.

As early childhood programs face widespread closures and declining enrollment, some educators have had their salaries cut or have lost their jobs altogether. Even before the pandemic, child care workers on average earned just $10.72, according to data published by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley. Over half of these workers were part of families enrolled in at least one of four public assistance programs. That’s more than double the rate of the American workforce as a whole.

The pandemic threatens to push an already vulnerable group to the brink of financial ruin. A survey conducted in July by NAEYC, a professional association for early childhood educators, found that 40 percent of child care providers expected to close without additional public assistance. An analysis by the National Women’s Law Center showed that between February and April 2020, the child care industry hemorrhaged 370,600 jobs. A minority of those jobs had returned by July, but experts expect that many of these closures and job losses could be permanent.