From December the typical early childhood educator and carer will get a pay rise of at least $103 per week. By the following December, it will be more, taking the total to an extra $155 per week.

And there will be more after that.

The two pay rises, totalling 15%, announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday will be completely funded by the government. It’s part of a deal in which the childcare centres that actually employ the workers agree to increase their fees by no more than 4.4% over the next year.

The initiative, years in the making, is a down payment on a bigger increase expected when the Fair Work Commission completes its review of the wages of workers in childcare and some other caring professions by mid-2025.

An earlier decision about aged care workers awarded increases up to 28.5%.

Albanese’s move is good social and educational policy, and even better politics.

Employees in the early childhood education and care sector are among the lowest-paid of all professions. Their median weekly earnings are less than two-thirds of median adult earnings. The starting salary for adults is about $24 per hour.

Attracting and retaining workers in the sector has been a chronic problem.

Australia’s childcare industry has one of the largest unfilled vacancy ratios of any occupation. In the Sydney region, childcare is the top occupation where vacancies outstrip........

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