The workforce that makes up ECEs and child care workers is 90% female, which includes a growing number of women of colour.
Historically, and currently, ECEs and child care workers are paid under a living wage. Their wages fall on a spectrum, with some just making minimum wage, all the way up to $30 an hour. However, the average wage is about $21 an hour in Canada, which is about $42,000 annually. While this may be a feasible wage for someone who has a partner, for someone who is single this is not an adequate wage to support a life, to buy a vehicle, to buy a house or to enjoy a vacation with family.
Due to the low wages in child care, the average time an individual stays in the field is five years. This high turnover rate means that good-quality educators are leaving the field, predominantly because of the low wages and the high demands of the job. This turnover rate erodes the quality of the workforce in child care, so we are not able to hold on to professionals for 15 or 20 years or until their retirement.
This is not just a Canadian, Ontario, or London challenge. The challenge is occurring across the globe, as reported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The number of highly skilled and qualified ECEs is impacted by the increasing age of the ECEs, difficulty in attracting skilled and qualified ECEs, high staff turnover, low wages, lack of recognition and the feeling of being undervalued, as well as poor working conditions.
What is the solution to this problem?
When thinking of creating a strong, affordable, quality early years system, it is important to consider the human infrastructure to the system. We need to support the career of an early childhood educator as a respected and valued profession, a career that will be seen as one to be proud of for the majority of one's working life.
How do we do this?
Higher wages, benefits, adequate vacation time and job protection will improve the ability to attract skilled and highly qualified early years educators, increase the retention rate and allow child care centres to have qualified and passionate staff who will stay in the profession, ensuring consistent learning and care for the children.
The LCCN advises that a national system consider a grid format that reflects the worth of the work of the ECEs and the ECEs' value to families and communities. In this approach to remuneration, a new ECE would start at a rate of $25 an hour. The rate would grow yearly, as well as if additional qualifications were achieved, creating a predictable and dependable wage grid similar to the wage grid of the teaching profession.