Anthony Albanese at a childcare facility in Brisbane (Image: AAP/Jono Searle) The government’s commitment to spend $3.6 billion funding a two-stage 15% pay rise for Australia’s 220,000 childcare workers is a huge economic story — bigger than boondoggles like Future Made In Australia, despite the latter’s much bigger price tag. Labor has already committed more than $10 billion to fund a multi-stage pay rise for aged care workers amounting to between 17-28%.
The childcare pay rise is the next step in what is a massive investment in Australia’s vast health and caring sector, which has driven much of the employment growth of recent years. But while the aged care pay rise was driven by both equity concerns about the poor remuneration in a feminised industry and the need to strengthen the aged care workforce to deliver better quality care for seniors, the childcare pay rise has another important economic dimension: lifting female workforce participation. In its interim report on the sector last year, the Productivity Commission (PC) argued that the childcare sector faced what many call a “workforce crisis”: Vacancies for [early childhood education and care] positions are at record highs and vacancy rates are above those of the wider workforce .
.. Many inquiry participants have pointed to the relatively low pay and unattractive working conditions offered by the sector as a major factor that impedes the attraction and retention of staff.
For educators, lower skilled, lo.