Pay rise for early educators while keeping fees down for families

Every day, parents trust early educators with the most important people in their world, and every day Australia asks early educators to do one of the most important jobs imaginable.

Today, we are making sure those educators are fairly paid.

The Albanese Government will fund a 15 per cent wage increase for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) workers.

This wage increase will be tied to a commitment from Child Care Centres to limit fee increases. We want to make sure workers can be fairly paid without the costs being passed on to families.

This commitment will help retain our existing early childhood educators, who are predominately women, and attract new employees.

This is better for parents and better for educators. It’s also good for Australian business and creating greater equity for women in the workplace.

By improving access to quality early childhood education and care we can also boost productivity and workforce participation in the short and long-term.

Significantly, the wage increase also applies to workers in outside school hours care services – creating benefits for the parents of school aged children too.

This significant wage increase is an important next step in the Government’s reforms to the sector, building on the successful Cheaper Child Care changes.  

This will be phased in over two years, and include a 10 per cent increase from December 2024, and a further 5 per cent increase from December 2025.

This means a typical ECEC educator who is paid at the award rate will receive a pay rise of at least $103 per week, increasing to at least $155 per week from December 2025.

ECEC workers are some of the most important workers in the country and they deserve to be paid properly.

This $3.6 billion investment from the Government recognises the vital role that ECEC workers play preparing children for school.

To be eligible to receive funding for the wage increase, ECEC services won’t be able to increase their fees by more than 4.4 per cent over the next 12 months from today.

This is an important condition that will keep downward pressure on fees for families. Funding must be passed on in full to employees through increased wages.

This is a win for workers, a win for families and will help ease cost of living pressures.

Quality, affordable early education prepares children for a great start at school, contribution to their ongoing education and development.
And it lays the foundation for our nation's future economic success.

Since coming to Government, the number of ECEC workers has grown by more than 30,000, but we need more.

This announcement comes after the Government joined negotiations with unions and sector representatives as part of the ECEC supported bargaining process, made possible by the Secure Jobs Better Pay Act.

Combined with the Government’s Cheaper Child Care initiative, today’s announcement will help support the availability of early education and care for families and is a crucial step in charting the course to a truly universal early education system.

The Government has also received the Productivity Commission’s final report into early childhood education and care and will release it in due course. Government support for the interim retention payment will be provided for two years while the Fair Work Commission finalises its gender undervaluation priority awards review and as the Government charts a path towards a universal childcare system.

Quotes attributable to Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese:

"Early educators shape lives and change lives. We can never thank them enough for what they do – but we can make sure they are properly valued and fairly paid. Today our Government is doing just that.

“Knowing your child is safe, happy and learning alongside their friends is priceless. Giving the next generation the best start in life is essential. Today we deliver fair pay for the people who make this possible.

“Importantly, this agreement will also keep fees down for families. Our cheaper childcare policy already delivered increased subsidies to over a million families. This will provide even more cost of living relief.

“This brings together the priorities that drive our government: real help with the cost of living, fair wages for workers, investing in the future and economic equality for women.

“This is a great day for everyone who cares about child care: the children who thrive in it, the parents who rely on it and the dedicated workers who deliver it.”

Quotes attributable to Treasurer, Jim Chalmers:

“The early childhood education workers of this country deserve a decent pay rise and that’s what we’re delivering.

“We’re improving access to affordable early childhood education and care, boosting productivity and workplace participation, and helping Australians work more when they want to.

“Peter Dutton wants people to work longer for less, but we have a different approach.

“Our economic plan is all about helping people earn more and keep more of what they earn which is why we’re focused on delivering tax cuts for every taxpayer and strong and sustainable wages growth.”

Quotes attributable to Minister for Education, Jason Clare:

“The child care debate is over. It’s not babysitting. It’s early education and it’s critical to preparing children for school.

“They lift our kids up and now we are lifting their pay.

“This means wages up for workers and keeping prices down for families.

“A pay rise for every early childhood educator is good for our workforce, good for families and good our economy.”

Quotes attributable to Minister for Early Childhood Education, Dr Anne Aly:

“This is a wonderful outcome for a highly feminised workforce that has for far too long been neglected and taken for granted.

“We’re boosting the wages of early childhood education workers, while relieving cost of living pressures on Australian families.

“Properly valuing the early childhood education and care workforce is crucial to attracting and retaining workers and vital to achieving the quality universal early learning sector Australian families deserve.

“A quality early childhood education sector is necessary to support children's learning and development as well as workforce participation in the broader economy.”