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Sure Start minister Catherine Ashton launched a national multi-million pound advertising campaign this spring to recruit 180,000 childcare workers over the next three years. The campaign particularly targets men and people from ethnic minorities.

The campaign particularly targets men and people from ethnic minorities.

Early years partnerships have been set the strategic goal of increasing the proportion of men in the workforce to 6 per cent.

Although men account for nearly 3 per cent of the workforce, the figure is inflated by the numbers of men in after-school and holiday clubs catering for children aged up to 14, according to Claire Cameron of the Thomas Coram Research Unit. 'For the under-threes group, the figure is still around 1 per cent and has not changed in the past ten years.'

One step the Government has taken is to appoint childcare partnership managers to all Jobcentre Plus offices. These specialist staff will boost recruitment to the childcare workforce while giving information on childcare options for parents returning to work.

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