Becky Druhan, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development

Hundreds of daycare workers will see about a 30 per cent raise.

The pay bump is retroactive to July 4 and workers in the sector will see the back pay delivered in a lump sum just before the holidays.

The raises range from 14 to 43 per cent, depending on education, but many of the 2,600 early childhood educators (ECE’s) in our province will see 30 per cent bumps.

The wage increases means new ECE’s will make between $19 and $21 an hour while those with more experience will be paid up to $24 per hour.

Minister Becky Druhan says the raise is decades overdue and will help attract more people to the sector.

“Early childhood educators do incredible, valuable work, and we are excited to make this significant investment that reflects their importance to children, families and the Nova Scotia economy,” said Minister Druhan. “It will help grow the early childhood education workforce and the child-care sector overall as we transition to a publicly funded system that provides reliable, affordable, quality and accessible care to families. We understand that change impacts the operations of child care, and we will support centres as we work through these changes.”

The province will provide additional funds to employers by November 1 to allow operators to pay staff in accordance with the new wage scale by mid-November

More work is needed on a benefits plan and those details be rolled out next year. The pay raise is part of Ottawa’s deal with Nova Scotia to bring in $10 per day childcare.

Highlights of the announcement include:

– a new wage scale for Level 1, 2 and 3 early childhood educators and directors working in
licensed centres and family home child-care agencies that receive funding from the Province
– wage increases retroactive to July 4, 2022
– the wage increases will be between 14 and 43 per cent, depending on classification level and
experience
– wage increases will flow through employers (licensed, funded centres and agencies)
— the cost is estimated at about $100 million a year, cost-shared through the Canada–Nova Scotia
– Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement; the Province currently pays about $25 million a year in wages to operators and the total additional new investment is about $75.4 million.
– Early childhood educators in family home child-care centres will also benefit from the higher wages.