Child care workers and their employment during the COVID-19 pandemic
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Description: Child care workers and their employment during the COVID-19 pandemic
Child care workers and their employment during the COVID-19 pandemic
In 2019, nearly 302,000 individuals were employed as child care workers in Canada, making up 1.6% of the total employed population.
Child care workers are predominately women and close to one-third are immigrants or non-permanent residents.
Sex:
- Women: 96%
- Men: 4%
Immigrant status:
- Non-immigrants: 67%
- Immigrants: 29%
- Non-permanent residents: 4%
Home child care providers (39%) were more likely to belong to a population group designated as a visible minority than early childhood educators and assistants (24%). Of all home child care providers, one in five were Filipino.
More than 7 in 10 child care workers had postsecondary education in 2016.
Early childhood educators and assistants were more likely to have education above the high school level (79%) than home child care providers (53%).
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, employment among child care workers has decreased.
Total employment fell by 6% in March 2020. However, employment decreased more sharply among child care workers (-21%).
In February 2021, employment among child care workers was still 21% lower than in February 2020, before the pandemic. In comparison, total employment in Canada decreased by 3% over the same period.
| All other occupations | Child care workers | |
|---|---|---|
| March 2020 | -6 | -21 |
| April 2020 | -15 | -36 |
| May 2020 | -12 | -38 |
| June 2020 | -6 | -28 |
| July 2020 | -4 | -25 |
| August 2020 | -3 | -20 |
| September 2020 | -2 | -13 |
| October 2020 | -2 | -12 |
| November 2020 | -2 | -12 |
| December 2020 | -2 | -8 |
| January 2021 | -5 | -16 |
| February 2021 | -3 | -21 |
Note: Child care workers include early childhood educators and assistants as well as home child care providers.
Sources: Uppal, S. and K. Savage. 2021. “Child care workers in Canada.” Insights on Canadian Society. June. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 75-006-X; Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2016, Labour Force Survey, 2020 and 2021.
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