Pay rises for childcare workers have helped stem staff shortages and improve education outcomes, employees say, as workers receive another government-funded pay boost.
The final five per cent of the federal government's 15 per cent pay rise package will hit early childhood educators' bank accounts from Monday, a year after a 10 per cent increase began rolling out.
The $3.6 billion measure was intended to attract more workers to the sector and help reduce rates of casualisation, burnout and turnover hindering Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's ambition of universal affordable childcare.
For Talitha Dean, a worker at a Goodstart early learning centre in Canberra, it meant she no longer had to put off starting a family.
"We’ve always wanted children and we want to have them as soon as possible and have them while we’re young," she said.
"The pay rise means that we can start doing that instead of having to wait, like, five or 10 years or so."
In addition to a landmark award wage increase handed down by the Fair Work Commission, it adds up to about $200 extra per week since December 2024.
One year on, results indicate the wage bump is working as intended.
"There's still a lot of things we need to address within the early education workforce, but anecdotally, the ability to find educators has increased," said Nesha Hutchinson, vice president of long day care provider peak body the Australian Childcare Alliance.
In the 12 months to August, the number of educators rose by 15,100: an increase of six per cent.
Even more significant was the reduction in turnover, with a 14 per cent drop in vacancy rates from October 2024 to October this year, Ms Hutchinson told AAP.
"The most important thing is that we keep them and we look after them, because the things they learn over time, the relationships they have with children, the relationships they have with families, this is what leads to high-quality early childhood education," she said.
About three-quarters of providers had taken up the government-funded increase, which provided up to a 15 per cent increase on the award wage plus an additional 20 per cent to cover superannuation, workers compensation and other associated costs, Ms Hutchinson said.
To qualify, providers must not increase fees by more than 4.4 per cent over the first year and 4.2 per cent in year two.
The government is yet to commit to extending the funding arrangement once it ends in November 2026.
Greens early childhood education spokesperson Steph Hodgins-May said providers were not opting in to the arrangement because of uncertainty around what happens after that date.
"What happens to workers then? Do they dock their pay 15 per cent and do we see another mass exit of workers from our childcare industry?" she said.
"The minister has repeatedly refused to explain what happens after that period."
Education Minister Jason Clare said the government would have to look at the long-term future of the pay rise and the fee cap in 2026.
The government is waiting on the outcome of a Fair Work Commission review into priority awards, due to be completed in 2026, before making a decision.
