Child Care Workers: Jobs in Demand in Europe (2025)

Child Care Workers is an official occupation group (ISCO-08 code 5311) used by the International Labour Organization and Eurostat.

  • Baby-sitter
  • Child care worker
  • Creche ayah
  • Family day care worker
  • Nanny
  • Out of school hours care worker
6European countries report a shortage (EURES 2025)
11countries report a surplus
2,791open job ads right now in Germany and Sweden
5311ISCO-08 occupation code
Short answerIn the 2025 EURES report on labour shortages, 6 European countries reported a shortage of child care workers: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Romania. 11 reported a surplus: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Belgium appears in both lists, which usually means shortages in some regions and surpluses in others.

Pay in Germany for this job

€4,348median gross pay a month, full-time
€3,851 to €4,914middle half of workers (25% to 75%)
159,671full-time employees counted

German occupation used: Sozialpädagogische/r Assistent/in / Kinderpfleger/in (Childcare assistant), occupation code KldB 2010 83112. This is a national figure for all of Germany, before tax and social contributions, including extras such as holiday and Christmas pay.

Source: Bundesagentur für Arbeit, Entgeltatlas (employment statistics), reference date 31 December 2025. Full-time employees subject to social insurance only; civil servants, self-employed people and apprentices are not included. Retrieved 2026-10-13.

Check pay by region, age and gender in the Entgeltatlas

Pay in the UK for this job

£24,742median gross pay a year, full-time
£513median gross pay a week, full-time
45,000full-time jobs (ONS estimate)

UK occupation used: Early education and childcare assistants (SOC 2020 code 6111). Placeivo matched this to ISCO-08 5311 by job title and duties; the UK and international occupation lists do not line up exactly. National figure for the whole United Kingdom, in pounds sterling (GBP), before income tax and National Insurance.

Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2025 provisional, Table 14 (occupation by 4-digit SOC 2020): tables 14.7a (annual pay, gross) and 14.1a (weekly pay, gross), full-time employee jobs, United Kingdom. Weekly pay is for April 2025; annual pay is for the tax year ending 5 April 2025, employees in the same job for at least a year. Retrieved 2026-10-13.

See the ONS earnings tables by occupation

UK Skilled Worker visa for this job

Only in some casesGOV.UK level: Medium Skilled
£33,400standard going rate a year
£25,000lower going rate a year

This occupation (UK code 6111, Early education and childcare assistants) is a medium-skilled job. GOV.UK says a new visa for a medium-skilled job is usually possible only if the job is on the Immigration Salary List or the Temporary Shortage List, with their own conditions; some people extending a visa they already hold have different rules. Check both lists before applying. GOV.UK says the lower going rate applies if you apply for a Health and Care Worker visa in certain occupations, or got the certificate of sponsorship for your first Skilled Worker visa before 4 April 2024 and have held one ever since. Going rates are for a 37.5-hour week and are pro-rated for other hours. Placeivo matched this UK code to ISCO-08 5311 by job title; the lists do not line up exactly.

This is a summary of official rules, not legal advice. Rules change and some people (for example those already on a Skilled Worker visa) have different rules. Always check GOV.UK before you apply.

Source: UK Visas and Immigration, GOV.UK tables "Skilled Worker visa: eligible occupations and codes" and "Skilled Worker visa: going rates for eligible occupation codes", updated 2025-07-22, retrieved 2026-10-15. General minimum salary from GOV.UK "Skilled Worker visa: Your job", checked 2026-10-15.

Compare UK visa going rates by job · Eligible occupations (GOV.UK) · Going rates (GOV.UK) · Salary rules (GOV.UK)

Latest child care workers job ads

Real vacancies from the official public employment services, updated daily. Job titles are translated into English automatically; the full ad opens on the official site in German or Swedish (your browser's translate button turns it into English).

Germany

2,412 open ads
  • Childcare worker
    German title: Kinderpfleger
    PERSO PLANKONTOR Nord GmbH · Westoverledingen · Posted 2026-10-16
  • Childcare worker
    German title: Kinderpfleger
    Impuls Personal GmbH Filiale Köln · Köln · Posted 2026-10-16
  • Childcare worker
    German title: Kinderpfleger
    Ev. Diakonieverein Wassertrüdingen e.V. · Wassertrüdingen · Posted 2026-10-15
  • Childcare worker
    German title: Kinderpfleger
    Kath Kirchenverwaltung Hl Dreifaltigkeit · Amberg, Oberpfalz · Posted 2026-10-15
  • Childcare worker
    German title: Kinderpfleger
    PERSO PLANKONTOR Nord GmbH · Wardenburg · Posted 2026-10-14
  • Childcare worker
    German title: Kinderpfleger
    AWO Bezirksverband Oberbayern e.V. · Fürstenfeldbruck · Posted 2026-10-13

Source: Bundesagentur für Arbeit (German Federal Employment Agency). Ads are written by employers; Placeivo does not check them. See all ads in Germany

Sweden

379 open ads

Source: Arbetsförmedlingen (Swedish Public Employment Service). Ads are written by employers; Placeivo does not check them. See all ads in Sweden

Where child care workers are needed in Europe

CountryEURES 2025Average gross pay, all service and sales workers (2022)1-bed rent in the capital
DenmarkShortage€3,491 a month *Copenhagen: €1,800
GermanyShortage€2,479 a monthBerlin: €1,350
ItalyShortage€2,003 a month *Rome: €1,300
NetherlandsShortage€2,491 a monthNot yet verified
RomaniaShortage€767 a month *Not yet verified
BelgiumShortage and surplusNot yet verifiedBrussels: €1,150
AustriaSurplus€2,397 a month *Vienna: €1,250
CzechiaSurplus€1,124 a monthPrague: €1,250
FinlandSurplus€2,706 a month *Helsinki: €1,150
GreeceSurplus€1,166 a month *Athens: €1,150
HungarySurplus€839 a month *Budapest: €910
LatviaSurplus€928 a monthRiga: €870
LithuaniaSurplus€1,166 a monthVilnius: €830
PortugalSurplus€1,014 a month *Lisbon: €1,400
SpainSurplus€1,574 a monthMadrid: €1,300
SwedenSurplus€2,906 a month *Stockholm: €2,100

Pay: Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey 2022, mean gross monthly earnings of all service and sales workers in each country, in euros. This is the average for the whole occupation group, not for child care workers alone, and before tax. * Firms with 10 or more employees only. Rent: Eurostat, good-quality 1-bedroom flat in the capital, 2025.

What child care workers do

Child care workers provide care and supervision for children in residential homes and in before-school, after-school, vacation and day care centres.

Typical tasks

  • Assisting children to wash, dress and feed themselves
  • Taking children to and from school or outdoors for recreation
  • Playing games with children, or entertaining them by reading or storytelling
  • Assisting in the preparation of materials and equipment for children's education and recreational activities
  • Managing children's behaviour and guiding their social development
  • Disciplining children and recommending or initiating other measures to control behaviour, such as caring for own clothing and picking up toys and books
  • Observing and monitoring children's play activities
  • Keeping records on individual children, including daily observations and information about activities, meals served, and medications administered

Finding child care workers jobs in Europe

  • EURES is the official job portal of the EU public employment services. The search above looks for "Child care worker".
  • Some jobs are regulated professions: before you can work, your qualification may need to be recognised in the new country.
  • If you are not an EU/EEA citizen you will usually need a work permit or a visa such as the EU Blue Card. Check the rules of the country's immigration authority.

Cost of living where the jobs are

Take-home pay needed to rent a good 1-bedroom flat in the capitals of countries reporting a shortage:

About this data

  • Shortage and surplus: European Labour Authority, EURES Report on labour shortages and surpluses 2025, annex table 21 (published 2026). Each country's public employment service reports which occupations it finds hard to fill or in oversupply. Countries not listed did not report this occupation as either.
  • Definition, tasks and job titles: International Labour Organization, ISCO-08 structure and definitions.
  • Pay: Eurostat, Structure of Earnings Survey 2022 (earn_ses22_48), by occupation group. Germany, this exact job: Bundesagentur für Arbeit, Entgeltatlas (median pay of full-time employees). United Kingdom, closest UK occupation: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14 (median pay of full-time employees).
  • Job ads: Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Germany) and Arbetsförmedlingen (Sweden), refreshed about once a day.

See all jobs in demand in Europe · Methodology