Dr Mike Freelander MP, the Federal Member for Macarthur and a long-time advocate for greater cost-of-living relief, has today welcomed the historic agreement by the Albanese Government to deliver a 15% wage increase for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) workers.
The agreement, which has been formally signed and lodged today with the Fair Work Commission, benefits approximately 200,000 ECEC workers and is supported by $3.6 billion by the Albanese Government to deliver these pay rises, which will help these workers deal with cost of living pressures.
The wage increase is tied to a requirement for early childhood education and care services to limit fee increases. We want to make sure workers can be fairly paid without the costs being passed on to families.
Pay rises of 10 per cent above the award rate will start hitting worker pay packets this month, 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.
For a typical early childhood teacher, they’ll receive an additional $166 a week from December this year, increasing to $249 from December of next year.
Since coming to Government, the early learning workforce has grown by more than 30,000 workers, but we recognise we need more.
This investment from the Albanese Government will help retain our existing early childhood educators, who are predominantly women, and help attract new workers to the sector.
ECEC workers are some of the most important workers in the country and they deserve to be paid properly.