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of a child care teacher, $21,038 to take care of cars, $22,717 for those who take care of
children (Doherty et al., 2000).
The findings from the You Bet I Care! (2000) constitute a comparative analysis of
two sets of data that span a 7-year time frame. The study differentiates between those
with early childhood education credentials (referred to as teachers) and those working in
child care without qualifications (referred to as assistant teachers). In Caring for a Living
(1991), the earlier data indicated that the national average for an assistant teacher in a
child care centre was $8.29 per hour. In 1998 it was $9.59.
All findings from You Bet I Care! (2000) related to wages requires a contextual
perspective as salaries tend to be lowest in provinces where the average salary is lower
across all occupations. Nationally, the mean hourly wage for full-time teaching staff was
$12.21 an hour in non-profit programs and $8.64 an hour in commercial settings
(Doherty et al., 2000). For qualified early childhood educators which the study calls
teachers, the national average in 1991 was $9.71 compared to $11.62 in 1998.
Another study, Child Care by Default or Design (Doherty, Friendly, & Forer,
2002), explored the differences between non-profit and for-profit Canadian child care
centres using the You Bet I Care! (2000) data. The debate over auspice (who runs the
centre) has been ongoing in Canada for many years. Research, using standard
observational scales as measurement, has consistently found that commercial child care
centres as a group obtain lower ratings for overall program quality than do non-profit
centres. You Bet I Care! identified salary level as a significant predictor of the quality of
programming in a given classroom. Teacher salaries are lower and benefits fewer in
commercial centres. Since all centres in a given community have to charge similar fees in