Data Notes

The data in the compensation story comes from the Alaska SEED Registry. Participation in this registry is voluntary and, as such, does not include every child care professional in the state. There are over 5,000 people in the child care workforce in the state of Alaska. The SEED dataset only includes 1,610 providers. Furthermore, only 1,181 providers have wage data. However, the data presented here is representative of Alaska’s child care workforce.

While the urban areas of Alaska (Anchorage, Juneau, and Fairbanks) are well-represented, the rural towns and boroughs of the state have very small sample sizes. Some boroughs are not represented at all in this dataset. Therefore, we are unable to do a borough-by-borough analysis of wage data in Alaska. However, we are able to do an analysis of the three primary regions of Alaska (Northern/Interior, Southeast, and Southcentral) and state Senate districts. This gives users an idea of the landscape at a more local level.

In the SEED dataset, race was collected as a “select all that apply” item. This resulted in many providers indicating more than one race. To resolve this issue, we indicate all of the providers who identify as a certain race in each category. This resulted in the percentages exceeding 100% in some cases. For example, if a provider identifies as Alaska Native, American Indian, and White, this provider will show up in the charts for all three races.

The data in the employee benefits story comes from applications that child care professionals completed in order to receive a ROOTS award, which was supported with federal COVID-era relief funding. Thus, this data does not include every child care professional in the state. The ROOTS application asked applicants if their current child care employer offers benefits. The applicants do not indicate whether they actually receive these benefits.