The head of a group of day care centers said it had been “incredibly difficult” to recruit qualified staff for early childhood education.
Figures from the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) show that job vacancies in the sector have increased by 45%.
Laura Andrews of Acorn Early Years, who has nurseries in Milton Keynes, Northamptonshire and Bedford, said there were “not the people out there”.
The Government said it is investing £180 in training pre-school staff.
SEMLEP, which covers Northamptonshire, Milton Keynes and Bedfordshire, said 701 nursery teacher, assistant and playworker positions were open before the pandemic.
According to its own information, there were now 1,015 vacancies, an increase of 45%.
Ms Andrews, senior early years manager at the nursery group, said: “It’s just very difficult to recruit, it’s difficult to find the right people.”
She said the majority of recruits are “more likely to come from other nurseries” than new people entering the sector.
Ms Andrew said: “We have 16 nurseries and hire in pretty much all of them.
“We can get unqualified ones [staff]but even that is difficult. [Recruiting] Practitioners in their early years, it’s incredibly difficult. There don’t seem to be many people going to college anymore.”
She said the kindergarten group would “grow our own” through apprenticeships, but that wouldn’t immediately solve the recruitment problem.
Ms Andrews said nurseries were unable to “offer the same money as competitors like retailers”.
“The funding isn’t there from the government, the early years just aren’t seen as a priority,” she said.
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Paul Thompson, employment and skills manager at SEMLEP, said job vacancies had “increased from pre-pandemic levels” in several sectors.
He said there was a combination of reasons including Brexit and “people reflecting on their work and lifestyle during the pandemic”.
An Education Department spokeswoman said: “We are increasing the hourly rates childcare workers will be paid, reflecting the costs many employers are facing, including rising wages for their staff, and have already announced a package of up to £180m to help Provide better education and support for employees who work with preschool children as part of our Education Recovery program.
“We recognize the concerns surrounding hiring and retention and are working with the industry to further evaluate how we can support vendors in this space.”
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