10 PER CENT CHILDCARE STAFF SHORTAGE

ABOUT one in 10 childcare centre roles are vacant and a new report predicts the staffing crisis will only get worse.

The lack of workers means thousands of centres are operating with regulatory waivers to permit operation despite inadequate staffing.

Others may have to close if they cannot recruit new staff.

The official number of vacancies in centres is a record high, with more than 6230 job advertisements across the industry, including more than 300 for centre managers, 1799 for teachers and 4135 for child carers.

NSW had the largest number of vacancies for teachers and child carers, with 2134, followed by Victoria with 1431 and Queensland with 1371.

Meanwhile a new report, Rebuilding the Early Childhood Education and Care Industry in Australia, released by the Carmichael Centre, predicted the workforce crisis would only get worse.

It found that by 2030, 41,500 new graduates would be needed a year to meet the demand of working parents.

At the moment there were 35,000 people qualifying.

It also calculated that if Australia was to match the average staffing levels of other OECD countries, it would need to produce 48,000 graduates annually.