Job prospects Early Childhood Educator - Special Needs in Newfoundland and Labrador

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as an "early childhood educator - special needs" in Newfoundland and Labrador or across Canada.

Job opportunities in Newfoundland and Labrador

These outlooks were updated on November 29, 2023.

Prospects over the next 3 years

The employment outlook will be good for Early childhood educators and assistants (NOC 42202) in Newfoundland and Labrador for the 2023-2025 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

• Employment growth will lead to several new positions.
• A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements.
• There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.
• High employee turnover in this occupation could lead to additional employment opportunities.

The provincial government has set a target of 700 new child care spaces in the province in 2023, while a recruitment drive for early childhood educators was launched in 2022 in anticipation of the introduction of a pre-kindergarten pilot program and the introduction of $10-a-day child care. A shortage of early childhood educators remains, with parents having considerable difficulty finding child care as it takes time to recruit and train the workers to fill the need. Efforts are being made to attract those who left the occupation, and the new higher wage scale is geared towards attracting others to this line of work. In addition, the provincial government has created an early childhood retention grant which gives Level 1-4 educators who qualify up to $2,500 once they become certified through the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Newfoundland and Labrador. Educators would also receive $2,500 more when they recertify themselves with the association three years later, and another $2,500 three years after that.

Here are some key facts about Early childhood educators and assistants in Newfoundland and Labrador:

• Approximately 1,900 people work in this occupation.
• Early childhood educators and assistants mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Social assistance (NAICS 624): 92%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 80% compared to 83% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 20% compared to 17% for all occupations
• 55% of early childhood educators and assistants work all year, while 45% work only part of the year, compared to 56% and 43% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 40 weeks compared to 40 weeks for all occupations.
• 19% of early childhood educators and assistants are self-employed compared to an average of 8% for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: less than 5% compared to 51% for all occupations
  • Women: more than 95% compared to 49% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: less than 5% compared to 11% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 24% compared to 27% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: 9% compared to 17% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 47% compared to 23% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 14% compared to 14% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: less than 5% compared to 7% for all occupations

Breakdown by region

Explore job prospects in Newfoundland and Labrador by economic region.

Source Labour Market Information | Prospects Methodology

Labour market conditions over the next 10 years

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as an "early childhood educator - special needs" Early childhood educators and assistants (NOC 42202) or across Canada.

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