Job prospects Early Childhood Educator (ECE) Assistant in Québec

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as an "early childhood educator (ECE) assistant" in Québec or across Canada.

Job opportunities in Québec

These outlooks were updated on December 11, 2024.

Prospects over the next 3 years

The employment outlook will be moderate for Early childhood educators and assistants (NOC 42202) in Quebec for the 2024-2026 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

• Employment growth will lead to several new positions.
• Not many positions will become available due to retirements.
• There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

Employment in this occupation is dependent on the number of children attending early childhood centres, childcare centres and school-based childcare services, as well as government funding for these various services. 

Demographically, the number of preschoolers and primary school students is expected to decrease slightly across Quebec by 2026.                

However, there is a long waiting list for childcare spaces due to the backlog of many childcare centre projects, higher construction costs, the labour shortage, and the closure of many family daycare centres between 2018 and 2022.

As the government is committed to creating several thousand childcare spaces, there is a significant demand for workers in this occupation, particularly for qualified educators. Measures were also implemented to foster recruitment, including a scholarship program for which childcare technology students are eligible and a paid on-the-job training program. 

While the outlook is moderate across Quebec, it is good in Quebec's 12 economic regions. 

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

• Approximately 80,250 people work in this occupation.
• Early childhood educators and assistants mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Social assistance (NAICS 624): 77%
  • Elementary and secondary schools (NAICS 6111): 20%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 77% compared to 82% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 23% compared to 18% for all occupations
• 52% of early childhood educators and assistants work all year, while 48% work only part of the year, compared to 62% and 38% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 42 weeks compared to 43 weeks for all occupations.
• 18% 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: less than 5% compared to 52% for all occupations
  • Women: more than 95% compared to 48% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: 7% compared to 12% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 16% compared to 19% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: 15% compared to 19% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 44% compared to 22% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 14% compared to 17% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: less than 5% compared to 11% for all occupations

Breakdown by region

Explore job prospects in Québec by economic region.

Source Labour Market Information | Prospects Methodology

Labour market conditions over the next 10 years

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