Early childhood educators have one of the most important roles in society, helping the youngest generation flourish, yet educators earn some of the lowest wages. Given their disparate financial value, educators have unsurprisingly reported high stress. Educators’ high stress and low wages may affect their health, workplace turnover, and children’s development. Here, we observed whether natural wage increases were associated with reduced stress in educators during the 2021–2022 academic year. Across two time points (TPs), 67 center-based educators of children 0–5 years old completed surveys on their wages and psychological stress (perceived stress, depression, and anxiety). Fifty educators provided hair cortisol concentration to represent chronic physiological stress. Over about three months, educators received a mean wage increase of $1.85/hour. Before the wage increase, minoritized educators earned about $1.50 less than White educators, but earnings were more similar at the second TP. Educators’ depression at the start of the academic year was related to their next three months’ of physiological stress. Over time, educators’ stress remained high and was unassociated with wage changes. Our results suggest a concentrated examination into eliminating wage inequities and reducing the stress of educators.

幼儿教育工作者在社会中发挥着最重要的作用之一，帮助最年轻的一代蓬勃发展，但教育工作者的工资却是最低的。鉴于不同的经济价值，教育工作者的压力很大也就不足为奇了。教育工作者的高压力和低工资可能会影响他们的健康、工作场所流动性和儿童的发展。在这里，我们观察了 2021-2022 学年自然工资增长是否与教育工作者压力减轻有关。在两个时间点 (TP) 内，67 名 0-5 岁儿童的中心教育工作者完成了关于他们的工资和心理压力（感知压力、抑郁和焦虑）的调查。五十名教育工作者提供了头发皮质醇浓度来代表慢性生理压力。大约三个月内，教育工作者的平均工资增加了 1.85 美元/小时。在工资上涨之前，少数族裔教育工作者的收入比白人教育工作者少约 1.50 美元，但在第二个 TP 时收入更为相似。教育工作者在学年开始时的抑郁症与他们接下来三个月的生理压力有关。随着时间的推移，教育工作者的压力仍然很高，并且与工资变化无关。我们的结果建议集中研究消除工资不平等和减轻教育工作者的压力。