Stewart Child-Care Services chief executive Lyn Woolley said ABC Learning Centres had three big centres in the city, meaning more child-care places.

"Launceston has a lot of centres because ABC hit town three years ago," Mrs Woolley said.

"There are places still available in Launceston but there are peaks."

Mrs Woolley is also a member of the State Government's Child-Care Advisory Council.

She said a trend towards parents working part- time and job sharing meant uneven demand for child-care places.

"It makes it inconsistent with the child numbers because the parents are swapping," she said.

"There are fewer full-timers and more casuals.

"It's almost a full-time job juggling them into a spot."

She said more qualified workers were needed.

"But the whole of child-care needs more workers," she said.

Another trend in child-care was towards more highly qualified staff with strict ratios of staff to children in each child-care room.

"And the Government is starting to talk about university-trained carers in each room," she said.

"They would oversee the child's learning development.

"And research says that children from birth to four will learn more than they will ever learn again in their life.

"If they have got to be in care they need to be in quality care. So it means the ratio must be as low as possible."

She said the minimum child to staff ratio for children to age three was 5:1 but the centre had 4:1 and would like to have 3:1 but that was too expensive.

She said child-care workers did a two-year TAFE course, compared to a four-year university course.

But she said children received individual attention to boost their development, including help with language and social skills, so workers had to be qualified.

"You need good qualifications," she said. "It's more than just playing on the floor."