The trade union has conducted a survey of those working in the early years sector and found 40% are actively looking for jobs in other industries.
90% of childcare workers say they struggle to make ends meet, despite many being educated to degree level.
Darragh O'Connor from SIPTU says at the same time parents are struggling to meet high childcare costs:
"Generally staff wages make up at around 70% of the outgoing to the service, some a little more, some a little less. So it is a labor intensive sector. And generally when you look around the rest of Europe if you want affordable childcare, and everybody knows it's really important that parents have access to affordable childcare, it has to be subsidized by the state. There's no two ways about it or be directly provided by the state."
