Persistent Shortages Revealed in New Report
Australia's early childhood workforce continues to face deep, structural shortages, according to the recently released Occupation Shortage Driver Report 2025 from Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA). The report, published in October 2025, underscores persistent challenges driven primarily by training constraints for early childhood teachers and significant retention issues among child carers.
These findings reinforce earlier detailed analysis from JSA's September 2024 report, 'The Future of the Early Childhood Education Profession', which provided a comprehensive overview of the sector's workforce needs.
Key Findings: A Sector Under Strain
The 2025 OSD Report identifies two critical drivers of the ongoing shortages: a long training gap for early childhood teachers and a retention gap for child carers. An estimated 21,000 additional early childhood teachers are needed to meet current demand and ensure sustainable workloads. More broadly, Jobs and Skills Australia has indicated a need for 21,000 more qualified Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) professionals to meet existing demand across the sector.
Childcare educators, a substantial group employing over 173,000 workers, are particularly affected by below-average retention rates. The primary factors contributing to this attrition include low pay, poor working conditions, and a lack of access to social infrastructure, all of which negatively impact job satisfaction and longevity.
Underlying Causes and Broader Impact
The structural issues extend beyond remuneration, encompassing low professional status, limited career progression, and a lack of work-life balance, leading to high levels of burnout and staff turnover. The sector also experiences relatively high rates of work-related injuries, further contributing to worker attrition. The average tenure for paid contact educators was only 3.6 years in 2021, with nearly a quarter of educators (23%) having been in their current workplace for less than a year.
These shortages have a significant impact on service delivery, particularly in regional and remote areas where access to childcare is often limited. To meet various government policy commitments, including universal access to preschool for 3 and 4-year-olds, the ECEC workforce would need to grow by an annual average of 3.0 percent, with Early Childhood Teachers requiring a 5.4 percent annual growth rate. Overall, the current ECEC workforce needs to expand by an additional 8 percent to satisfy current unmet demand for services and another 8 percent to address the shortage of qualified workers.
Addressing the Crisis: Government Initiatives and Recommendations
Jobs and Skills Australia's 2024 study, 'The Future of the Early Childhood Education Profession', detailed 28 key findings and put forth 41 recommendations aimed at addressing these challenges and building a more sustainable ECEC sector. These recommendations emphasize the need for improved pay, better working conditions, and clearer career pathways to attract and retain educators.
In response to the ongoing crisis, the Australian Government has committed a $72.4 million package to support the skills and training needs of the ECEC workforce. Key initiatives include:
- $34.4 million in grants to support professional development opportunities for up to 75,000 early childhood educators.
- $33.1 million to assist up to 6,000 existing educators in completing current studies towards Initial Teacher Education or post-graduate Early Childhood Teacher qualifications.
- $4.8 million for an exchange program to connect up to 2,000 students with services for practicum placements.
The government is also supporting a wage increase through a worker retention payment and is working on a 10-year National Children's Education and Care Workforce Strategy to foster a high-quality and sustainable workforce. These measures aim to alleviate the pressures on the sector and ensure that Australian families have access to quality early childhood education and care.
7 Comments
Michelangelo
Another report stating the obvious. We've known about these shortages for years!
Raphael
Investing in ECEC is investing in our children's future. This is a much-needed positive move.
Donatello
Low pay and poor conditions are the real issue, not just training gaps. Address the root cause.
eliphas
While the government's investment is welcome for professional development, it doesn't fully address the deep-seated problem of consistently low wages and poor working conditions that primarily drive retention issues.
Raphael
This report clearly highlights a serious, long-standing problem. Action is absolutely essential now.
paracelsus
Hope these initiatives make a real, tangible difference for our exhausted early childhood carers.
eliphas
While the report accurately details the workforce crisis, the long-term strategy needs to ensure that regional and remote areas, often hit hardest by shortages, receive equitable and sustained support beyond initial grants.