Community groups gather with elected officials on the steps of City Hall to protest Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed budget cuts that they say spell disaster for city childcare programs.

Surviving in New York City on $28,000 a year — I’m sure you would agree — is not easy. Yet, difficult as it is, it sure beats being unemployed hands down.

That, in a few words, is the story of what more than 2,000 unionized childcare and Head Start workers, in imminent danger of losing their jobs, are currently facing.