Some workers have to do two or three jobs to get a full-time wage packet. The main characteristics of childcare employment were described as insecurity, low pay, variable working hours and informal work arrangements. Workers often do not have contracts or receive sick pay, holiday pay or protection against unfair dismissal. Union membership is not high among workers particularly in smaller projects. Unions also find it difficult to access workers in this fragmented sector.
Many workers have little training.
Most respondents felt training was improving at too slow a rate. Lack of infrastructure and support is hampering development in the childcare sector. Major barriers to the development of good quality jobs in the sector include lack of access to long-term training, uneven awareness of employment rights and difficulties in transforming previous models of childcare expansion to an economically driven one. The context of childcare work Increased numbers of working parents, new government policies on childcare, and changes in national and local economic strategies have all contributed to a substantial and marked change in the pattern of provision and employment in the sector. The increased demand for childcare is a consequence of the growth in female participation in the labour market.