Pay and Conditions
Wages & Salaries Survey
Helping centres understand how ECE staff are being paid, and supporting employers and employees to understand which wages are fair and reasonable.
More information
The Early Childhood Council (ECC) is committed to promoting high quality ECE in New Zealand. This begins with ensuring all staff are being paid fairly for the important work they do. Part of our approach is the annual Wages and Salaries Survey, through which we collect data about what ECE staff from a range of roles are being paid.
This independent survey gathers wage data across all roles in an early childhood centre – from management and certificated teachers to uncertificated roles like educators, cooks and administrators. The survey is open to all Education & Care services in Aotearoa New Zealand irrespective of membership with ECC, and we encourage a diverse range of centres to participate.
By participating, you’ll be helping to build a clear picture of pay rates and other factors across the ECE sector. The ECC Wages & Salaries Survey Report will be available for purchase in due time and provides insights on:
Average wage rates by role and experience
Trends across different regions and centre demographics
Benchmarking your pay rates to stay competitive when hiring
What additional benefits other employers are offering (like discounts, professional development and more)
Supporting your staff to better understand their position in the market
Our report helps you strengthen recruitment, retain your staff and support pay transparency across the sector.
Completing the Survey
Each centre should submit one survey, if you belong to a group of centres please forward the link to your centre manager so that they can complete it on behalf of the centre.
The survey takes approximately 15 - 20 minutes, you can save and complete later.
Identifying details will be used in the process of data analysis only and not shared with any third parties. Data will only be reported in aggregate form. We do not collect data about children in this survey.
Survey closes 5pm Friday 10 October 2025.
If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact ingrid.crispin@ecc.org.nz.
Wages & Salaries 2024 Survey Report
This report is now available exclusively to ECC members. It analyses responses from 134 centres across New Zealand. Key findings include;
The average hourly rate for certificated teachers has grown 17.4% since 2023.
76% of the centre managers included in the sample were also certificated teachers.
The most common operating challenges were compliance/paperwork burden, Pay Parity affordability and fee increases for parents.
Phone: 0800 742 742
Email: admin@ecc.org.nz
Floor 1, Petherick Tower,
38 Waring Taylor Street, Wellington
PO Box 5649, Wellington 6140,
New Zealand