PAY RISE FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS LONG OVERDUE RECOGNITION OF FEMINISED WORKFORCE

Parents’ advocates have welcomed today’s Fair Work Commission recommendation of a significant pay rise for early childhood workers, as part of a landmark decision on low-paid, female-dominated sectors. 

The Parenthood’s Campaign Director Maddy Butler said a fairly-paid and well-supported early childhood workforce was important to families. 

“Early childhood educators play a huge role in young children’s learning, development and day-to-day happiness. As parents, we want the people who spend up to 40 hours a week with our children to be paid fairly and well supported,” Ms Butler said. 

“We want our childcare and early learning centres to be attracting talented early education professionals, because that’s what it is – a profession. 

“Too often the work that is usually performed by women is unrecognised and undervalued. It’s 2025 and it’s high time feminised workforces receive respect and proper pay.”

More than 9 in 10 early childhood workers are women. Hourly rates of as little as $24 have caused many to leave the sector, with some finding higher wages in industries like administration and retail. 

“There’s a workforce crisis in early childhood education and care that has been fuelled by unfairly low wages that don’t reflect the value of educators’ work,” Ms Butler said.

“Without early childhood educators, there is no early childhood education. With educators leaving the sector in droves, too many families languish on waitlists for months or years, too many rural towns have no childcare at all, and too many children miss out on high-quality care and continuity of care due to high turnover of staff.”

The announcement follows last year’s commitment from the Federal Government to fund a 15 per cent pay rise for early childhood workers over two years. 

The wage rise is dependent on centres committing to not lift fees by more than 4.4 per cent over 12 months. 

Ms Butler said it was clear the Government had a reform agenda for early childhood that was taking both wages and fees into account. 

“The Government has signalled that a cap on daily fees is part of their agenda should they win a second term, which would mean a much-overdue shake-up of how government funding for childcare and early learning works. 

“Parents have no further room to give on out-of-pocket costs, which we hear can be upwards of $50 a day. Australia needs a new funding model that delivers the wages educators should be paid while offering parents affordability relief.

“The Parenthood welcomes a bigger role for government in funding childcare that is affordable and accessible for families, and delivered by fairly-paid and highly-respected educators. It’s an essential service for parents, especially in a cost-of-living crisis where most two-parent families need two incomes to survive.”