Nursery World - Recruitment and retention crisis has increased the skills gap in the early years workforce

The early years skills gap has increased by over 2 per cent in the last five years, putting ‘immense pressure' on setting managers’ workloads and stress levels’, according to new research.

According to analysis by NCFE, the early years skills gap has increased by more than 2 per cent in the last five years, PHOTO: Adobe Stock

The new report from NCFE, which highlights the current and future challenges in the early years sector, includes skills gap and demand data, as well as contributions from experts.

It reveals in 2022, there were over 4,000 more job postings within the early years and childcare sector than in 2017. This includes the creation of brand-new jobs, seen as emerging skills, as well as people leaving roles and creating a vacancy. It says that both result in a skills gap, with the sector’s increasing by over 2 per cent during the last five years.

The data is taken from the Office for National Statistics Labour Demand Volumes.

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