BRITISH COLUMBIA will require an additional 12,000 early childhood educators (ECEs) to achieve government’s commitment to universal child care. Higher wages are required to retain qualified staff, recruit qualified staff into new programs, and encourage people to enter the field.

To support these goals, this project considered the design and implementation of a wage grid for certified educators working in centre-based child care programs. The project team conducted a literature review, interviewed key informants, and evaluated wage grids and ECE wage policies across Canada. We analyzed the results to determine the current state of ECE wages in Canada, including efforts to increase ECE wages, and the best practices in developing an ECE wage grid. Based on these results, we made specific recommendations for BC.

We recommend the following step 1 wages in a BC ECE wage grid (in 2020 dollars):

• ECEA (ECE Assistant): $20/hour;
• ECE (one-year college certificate): $26/hour; and
• ECE+ (two-year college diploma): $29/hour.