Released on September 5, 2024
Today the Governments of Saskatchewan and Canada announced $8.4 million in early learning and child care workforce enhancement grants to assist eligible child care centres and group family child care homes in recruiting and retaining staff, as well as an additional $1 million for a total of nearly $53 million to the Early Childhood Educator (ECE) wage enhancement grant. This change will provide a $1 an hour increase to the ECE wage enhancement grant maximums for all certification levels.
Both the workforce enhancement and wage grants are funded through the Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, as the province increases access to child care spaces in Saskatchewan and helps regulated child care employers maintain and grow their ECE workforce.
"Our government is pleased to invest in early childhood programs," Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said. "With these grants, it will continue to enhance our support of non-profit child care centre boards and group family child care providers in their staffing efforts. The grants come at a time where the province can continue to expand regulated $10 per day child care spaces for Saskatchewan families to help make the province one of the most affordable places to live."
"To make $10-a-day child care a reality for families in Saskatchewan, we need to retain and recruit more early childhood educators," Canada's Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Jenna Sudds said. "With these child care workforce enhancement grants, we are opening the door for new educators to discover this important career, as well as creating a stronger early child care educator workforce."
The ECE wage enhancement grant, effective September 1, 2024, allows for a wage top-up for eligible, certified educators of up to $8.50 per hour. The grant has been increased four times since November 2021 in an effort to increase wages and equalize compensation based on training and education levels. There has been an overall increase to average ECE wages of 20 per cent from December 2021 to December 2023 and this increase is expected to help employers to keep ECE wages competitive.
This is the fourth early learning and child care workforce enhancement grant since the introduction of the Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. This workforce enhancement will provide $145 per child care space to support non-profit child care centre boards and group family child care providers with initiatives best suited for their needs, such as peer mentoring, pension plan contributions or long-service recognition.
Nearly $83 million has been invested from 2021 to 2024 in Saskatchewan into recruitment and retention initiatives for regulated child care, such as wage enhancements, tuition-free training seats to support individuals to achieve an ECE I, II or III certification level and professional development opportunities. These investments are having an impact.
Since March 2021, there has been a 15 per cent increase in certified ECEs, including a 30 per cent growth in the number of ECE IIIs, who work as leaders to support developmentally appropriate programs for the children in their care.
The Government of Saskatchewan is committed to increasing access to quality early learning and child care opportunities with a system based on principles of affordable, accessible, inclusive and high-quality child care.
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