Job prospects Early Childhood Assistant in Manitoba

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as an "early childhood assistant" in Manitoba or across Canada.

Job opportunities in Manitoba

These outlooks were updated on December 11, 2024.

Prospects over the next 3 years

The employment outlook will be good for Early childhood educators and assistants (NOC 42202) in Manitoba for the 2024-2026 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 small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

• Through a federal-provincial agreement in 2023, Manitoba began offering $10/day child care at regulated, non-profit child care centres. The deal includes a goal of 23,000 new child care spaces by 2026, as well as the recruitment of 2,000 additional early childhood educators and 1,000 child care assistants over the same period. 
• As of 2024, the sector was short nearly 1,000 early childhood educators, with fewer working currently than in 2017. Manitoba increased its starting wage for early childhood educators by about 18% in 2023, and a further 2.75% in 2024 to help address recruitment and retention challenges.  
• In 2023, the governments of Canada and Manitoba earmarked $24 million to expand training opportunities for early childhood educators, adding 998 seats over three years at five post-secondary institutions.

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

• Approximately 8,550 people work in this occupation.
• Early childhood educators and assistants mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Social assistance (NAICS 624): 89%
  • Elementary and secondary schools (NAICS 6111): 6%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 76% compared to 81% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 24% compared to 19% for all occupations
• 44% of early childhood educators and assistants work all year, while 56% work only part of the year, compared to 65% and 35% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 39 weeks compared to 43 weeks for all occupations.
• 10% of early childhood educators and assistants are self-employed compared to an average of 12% for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: 6% compared to 53% for all occupations
  • Women: 94% compared to 47% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: 6% compared to 12% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 30% compared to 31% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: 7% compared to 12% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 32% compared to 17% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 18% compared to 20% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: 6% compared to 8% for all occupations

Breakdown by region

Explore job prospects in Manitoba by economic region.

Source Labour Market Information | Prospects Methodology

Job prospects elsewhere in Canada

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

Learn more