It used to be most nannies were experienced professionals who had been doing it for years... but when the economy took a dive, many women became nannies solely to pay their bills. We've seen many office and admin assistants and telemarketers step into the nanny world only as a means to make ends meet. On the flip side, we've also seen many nurses and teachers who have lost their jobs take up an interest in the nanny profession. The last few years have been comprised of a real assortment of women who are looking to get into the field either as an interim job or just to get by. It has been very hard for the career professionals to compete with the less experienced nannies who are willing to take much less, especially when families cannot afford to pay what they were paying in better times. Furthermore, there has been a decrease in nanny jobs due to many parents either taking the decision to stay home or facing being laid off, thus being unable to afford a nanny any longer. Many self employed parents saw their monthly earnings diminish and consequently had to let their nannies go. Many families had a grandparent become the new nanny or made a deal with a friend to swap the children when the other was working. The nanny industry has dramatically changed in the past few years but slowly but surely seems to be improving.