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Home›Early Childhood Educators: Jobs in Demand in Europe (2025)

Early Childhood Educators: Jobs in Demand in Europe (2025)

Early Childhood Educators is an official occupation group (ISCO-08 code 2342) used by the International Labour Organization and Eurostat.

  • Early childhood educator
  • Pre-school teacher
13European countries report a shortage (EURES 2025)
6countries report a surplus
13,281open job ads right now in Germany and Sweden
2342ISCO-08 occupation code
Short answerIn the 2025 EURES report on labour shortages, 13 European countries reported a shortage of early childhood educators: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden. 6 reported a surplus: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Greece, Latvia and Lithuania. Bulgaria and Lithuania appear in both lists, which usually means shortages in some regions and surpluses in others.

Pay in Germany for this job

€4,314median gross pay a month, full-time
€3,842 to €4,848middle half of workers (25% to 75%)
168,056full-time employees counted

German occupation used: Erzieher/in (Early childhood educator), occupation code KldB 2010 83113. 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

£37,593median gross pay a year, full-time
£723median gross pay a week, full-time
9,000full-time jobs (ONS estimate)

UK occupation used: Nursery education teaching professionals (SOC 2020 code 2315). Placeivo matched this to ISCO-08 2342 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.

Small sample: the ONS quality measure (coefficient of variation) is annual figure 15%, weekly figure 11%. ONS advises using estimates like this with caution.

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

EligibleGOV.UK level: Higher Skilled
Pay scalegoing rate follows national pay scales

This occupation (UK code 2315, Nursery education teaching professionals) is on the UK list of jobs eligible for the Skilled Worker visa. There is no figure in the general going-rate table: GOV.UK has separate salary rules for healthcare and education jobs, based on national pay scales (for example NHS pay bands), so the general minimum of £41,700 may not apply. Check the GOV.UK page for healthcare and education jobs. Placeivo matched this UK code to ISCO-08 2342 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) · Healthcare and education rules (GOV.UK) · Salary rules (GOV.UK)

Latest early childhood educators 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

12,901 open ads

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

Sweden

380 open ads

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

Where early childhood educators are needed in Europe

CountryEURES 2025Average gross pay, all professionals (2022)1-bed rent in the capital
AustriaShortage€4,602 a month *Vienna: €1,250
BelgiumShortage€5,370 a month *Brussels: €1,150
EstoniaShortage€2,262 a monthTallinn: €720
GermanyShortage€5,270 a monthBerlin: €1,350
ItalyShortage€3,172 a month *Rome: €1,300
LuxembourgShortage€6,887 a month *Luxembourg: €1,900
NorwayShortage€6,022 a monthOslo: €2,000
PolandShortage€1,706 a monthWarsaw: €840
PortugalShortage€2,323 a month *Lisbon: €1,400
SloveniaShortage€2,727 a monthLjubljana: €950
SwedenShortage€4,330 a month *Stockholm: €2,100
BulgariaShortage and surplus€1,367 a monthSofia: €650
LithuaniaShortage and surplus€2,352 a monthVilnius: €830
CyprusSurplus€2,809 a monthNicosia: €750
CzechiaSurplus€2,276 a monthPrague: €1,250
GreeceSurplus€1,904 a month *Athens: €1,150
LatviaSurplus€2,136 a monthRiga: €870

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

What early childhood educators do

Early childhood educators promote the social, physical, and intellectual development of children below primary school age through the provision of educational and play activities

Typical tasks

  • Planning and organizing individual and group activities designed to facilitate the development of children's motor skills, cooperative and social skills, confidence and understanding
  • Promoting language development through story-telling, role-play, songs, rhymes and informal conversations and discussions
  • Leading children in activities that provide opportunities for creative expression through the media of art, dramatic play, music and physical fitness
  • Observing children in order to evaluate progress and to detect signs of developmental, emotional or health related problems
  • Observing and assessing nutritional health, welfare and safety needs of students and identifying factors which may impede students' progress
  • Supervising children's activities to ensure safety and resolve conflicts
  • Guiding and assisting children in the development of proper eating, dressing and toilet habits
  • Discussing progress or problems of children with parents and other staff members and identifying appropriate actions and referrals to other services
  • Establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships with other service providers working with young children

Finding early childhood educators jobs in Europe

Search all EU vacancies on EURES Check if your job is regulated
  • EURES is the official job portal of the EU public employment services. The search above looks for "Early childhood educator".
  • 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:

ViennaBrusselsTallinnBerlinRomeLuxembourgOsloWarsawLisbonLjubljanaStockholmSofiaVilnius

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