As high-quality child care programs are increasingly demanded by the community, there are numerous programs that offer job opportunities for working with young children. Trained professionals are needed in day care centers, federal agencies, public and private schools, churches, hospitals and programs sponsored by business and industry.

Among the top 25 occupations in Texas that are adding jobs requiring work-related training, child care workers are ranked third, according to Texas Workforce Commission’s long-range projections through the year 2010. The report also lists child care workers and teacher assistants in the state’s top 25 occupations adding the most jobs and having the most projected annual job openings.

According to America’s Career InfoNet, the job market for child care workers is expected to grow in Texas at a much faster rate than the nation in general, with a 21 percent increase in statewide job openings over the next decade. In the Metroplex area in 2004 (the last year for which figures were available), child care workers earned a median salary of $15,400 annually, or about $7.42 per hour.

Preschool teachers (except special education), according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, are listed as one of the fastest-growing occupations nationally through 2014, and even more so in Texas, with an anticipated 38 percent increase of job openings projected in the state. In 2004, the median hourly rate for preschool teachers in Texas was $8.67, or $18,000 annually. Preschool teachers instruct children, normally up to five years old, in activities designed to promote social, physical and intellectual growth needed for primary school in preschools, day care centers or other child development facilities. They may be required to hold state certification.

Teacher assistants, also one of the fastest-growing occupations nationwide over the next decade, earned about $16,000 annually in Texas in 2004. Teacher assistants perform duties that are instructional in nature or deliver direct services to students or parents, and serve in a position for which a teacher or other professional has ultimate responsibility for the design or implementation of educational programs and services.

Education administrators in preschool and child care centers in Texas earned median annual salaries of $30,500 in 2004. This job field is expected to grow enormously over the next decade, a projected 34 percent increase in Texas. Administrators plan, direct or coordinate the academic and nonacademic activities of preschool and child care centers or programs.