Adults who went to preschool as children have higher lifetime earnings, are more likely to be employed, and were less likely to be incarcerated. But preschool educators make only about $23,870 annually, compared with the $51,009 that public elementary school teachers make. In a new Brookings paper (pdf), Kevin Carey and Sara Mead point out how we're grossly underappreciating them:

The more than 1.3 million Americans—nearly all of them women—who make their livings caring for other people’s children are doing critically important work. Yet far too many of these workers are under-educated and underpaid. As a nation, we have decided to entrust our young children to other people, but we are not giving those people the training they need or the compensation they deserve.

Kay Steiger summarizes the proposal that Carey and Mead offer: