Nannying Now the New Fallback Career for Educated White Women
Elizabeth Chuck at NBC News reports today on the “Modern-day Mary Poppins,” which is really just a cute way of referring to young women who graduate from college and can’t get jobs doing anything but nannying. This shift in the market—moving away from uneducated and / or international nannies—has turned out to be especially beneficial for really rich families who a) want their kids to get “an edge” in the increasingly competitive world for babies and b) feel more comfortable with “a peer” watching their children (aka a white person).
Elyse Barletta, 27, is one of these peers. She tried to get a job in the nonprofit sector after college, but when she couldn’t find work, the Dean’s list history major with proficiency in French accepted a job to care for a 9-month old baby girl named Reynolds. There are others like her who “could go into law, medicine or other fields but are choosing to become career nannies, sometimes because they struggled to find jobs in their desired professions.” This is especially true for those with Master’s degrees because some parents believe “the ultimate nanny candidate” has multiple degrees.
How much do these well-bred nannies with low MCAT scores cost? In some places, a well-educated nanny can make a salary “comparable” to an entry-level finance career. In a big city with an advanced degree and good references, women like Barletta are now making over $100,000 a year using their liberal arts degrees to change diapers.
