Below-average pay. Stagnant wage growth. A lack of qualified candidates for jobs. All three are key challenges facing the education and childcare sector in Montana. That’s according to the Montana Department of Labor and Industry’s new analysis of the industry.
Commissioner Sarah Swanson puts it this way:
“Education and childcare is one of those critical sectors of our economy where we project chronic, ongoing workforce shortages over the next 10 years if we don’t intervene,” Swanson told MTPR in a phone interview.
The department analyzed six industries identified as critical to Montana’s economy by Gov. Greg Gianforte, including health care, hospitality and construction. Montana’s teachers and daycare workers earn $12,000 less than the statewide average wage, according to the data. The industry is adding jobs at a sluggish pace and losing workers far faster.
Swanson says the labor department is counting on new apprenticeship programs to train new teachers. It’s launching a program to do that later this year. But she acknowledges it’s only one part of a solution.
The challenge is even more acute in the childcare sector. The state reports childcare capacity meets less than half the demand in Montana. The average wage for a daycare worker: $26,500.
