Emurse

There is far less occupational diversity in the child day care services industry than in most other industries. Three occupations—preschool teachers, teacher assistants, and child care workers—account for 75 percent of all wage and salary jobs (table 2).

Preschool teachers make up the largest occupation in the child day care industry, accounting for about 34 percent of wage and salary jobs. They teach pupils basic physical, intellectual, and social skills needed to enter primary school. Teacher assistants account for 12 percent of employment and give teachers more time for teaching by assuming a variety of tasks. For example, they may set up and dismantle equipment or prepare instructional materials.

Child care workers account for about 29 percent of wage and salary jobs, as well as a large proportion of the self-employed who care for children in their homes, known as family child care providers. Some parents hire private household workers, such as nannies, to care for their children in their own home. Regardless of the setting, these workers feed, diaper, comfort, and play with infants. When dealing with older children, they attend to the children's basic needs and organize activities that stimulate physical, emotional, intellectual, and social development.

Education administrators, preschool and child care center/program account for about 4 percent of wage and salary workers. They establish overall objectives and standards for their centers, provide day-to-day supervision of their staffs, and bear overall responsibility for program development, as well as for marketing, budgeting, staffing, and all other administrative tasks.

In addition to hiring workers in the preceding occupations, child day care centers also employ a variety of office and administrative support workers, Building cleaning workers, cooks, and busdrivers.