New BrunswickNew Brunswick is spending $7.2 million to raise the hourly wage of experienced early childhood educators in daycare centres.Daycare director says raise doesn’t close pay gap between daycare workers and school educational assistantsKatelin Belliveau · CBC News · Posted: Aug 08, 2025 3:10 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoEarly childhood educators working in child-care centres in New Brunswick will be getting a higher hourly wage once they have three years of experience. (Bader Ben Amara/ Radio-Canada)Experienced childhood educators across New Brunswick who work in daycares will soon see an increase in their paychecks.The province is adding a new salary level for those with more than three years of experience. Workers in this category will get an increase of one dollar an hour from their current pay. The creation of the fourth pay level is a move the province hopes will help retain those who choose to work in daycares as opposed to schools, where teaching assistant salaries are notably higher.”They weren’t necessarily leaving … but they were talking about the concerns that they had in recognizing the value of their work,” Education Minister Claire Johnson said at a news conference Friday in Moncton. “Salary is a way to do that.”Education Minister Claire Johnson says the new pay level is aimed at retaining experienced daycare centre educators. (Katelin Belliveau/CBC)Educators in child-care centres in New Brunswick have been earning about a dollar more per hour for every year of experience they acquire, until they have three years under their belt. The hourly wage of an entry-level educator starts at $16.83. The province’s new level will add a step for those with more than three years of experience, bringing their hourly wage to $20.08.Level-one educators, who have more training, begin at $23.29 and will now earn up to $27.33 with more than three years of experience.The pay bump will cost the province $7.2 million in total. When asked by reporters where the money is coming from given recent cuts to school districts, Johnson said it comes from the “general funds that are available to us” and that it was “a targeted investment.” Library limbo: Families fear impact of library cuts this fall Labour board orders province to rescind library worker layoff notices Daycare educators want to be paid the same as education assistantsThe new pay level is good news but not quite good enough for Anise Lapointe, the director of a French daycare centre with over 200 children in Moncton.”I see the work that our educators do in class,” she told reporters in French. “It’s not one student to one educator like we see in schools. It’s one educator for 15, 10, eight kids. It’s certain, too, that we have kids that aren’t yet diagnosed with special needs.”Anise Lapointe, director of Centre Éducatifs des Trois Chênes in Moncton, says the pay increase will help experienced educators feel more support in their role, but everyone’s salary needs to be increased. (Katelin Belliveau/CBC)”I feel like they are doing as much as the teacher’s aids in the schools, so I do feel they should have a wage increase as well in the future,” she said.WATCH | ‘There is still some work to be done’ Province announces pay increase for experienced daycare workers Effective Sept. 16, early childhood educators working in daycares could see their hourly wage increase. Johnson acknowledged that there is still a significant pay gap between daycare workers and teaching assistants.”There will always be a natural gap between the different sectors,” Johnson said in French. “What I wish is that people choose the environment that is right for them because that’s the clientele they prefer.”Educational assistants in New Brunswick make up to $32.45 an hour, roughly $5 more than what the most experienced and trained daycare educators will earn under this new pay structure.That’s according to the latest collective agreement for CUPE 2745, the union which represents educational and clerical support staff in New Brunswick.That collective agreement expired in February 2023, and the vote on a new one, which could have seen even higher wages, has not been held.Lapointe also wants to see higher wages for educators in daycare centres kick in from their first year on the job to encourage new graduates to choose that environment.The new pay level will take effect across the province beginning in the new school year on Sept.16.ABOUT THE AUTHORKatelin Belliveau is a CBC reporter based in Moncton.
Province bumping up pay for experienced educators at daycares
