40% of childcare staff are actively looking for a new job in another sector.
A study by SIPTU has found that 94% of managers say that recruiting staff for their childcare service was 'difficult' or 'very difficult' in the past year.
While 90% of childcare workers say they struggle to make ends meet.
SIPTU's Darragh O'Connor says the low pay and high vacancy rate have a knock on effect for services.
"It's putting pressure on maintaining adult/child ratios, which is a legal necessity.
"It means that some providers have to close down rooms, so maybe the baby rooms, or the capacity within the within the service themselves, that's been reduced.
"I think it's also impacting on quality for children, so that's really bad that's really bad for providers, it's really bad for parents who are already struggling to find a spaces for children."
