Canada’s unfilled health-care jobs doubled since pandemic began: StatCan

The report shows the number of unfilled health-care jobs in Canada reached an all-time high in 2022 and that staff are missing an extra week on average due to illness.

The number of empty health-care jobs in Canada has more than doubled and care providers are working more overtime and taking more sick leave since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to Statistics Canada.

A report, released last week, shows how nurses, personal support workers and care aides are now coping after struggling through the brunt of the pandemic to keep patients, and themselves, alive.

An all-time high of 95,800 health-care jobs were vacant in the fourth quarter of 2022, more than twice the 2019 fourth-quarter figure of 40,100. Two-thirds of the vacancies were for nurses and support workers.

Overtime rose from an average of seven hours per week in 2019 to 8.6 extra hours – more than a full day per week – in 2022.

Staff missed nearly an extra week of work in 2022 compared with 2019 due to illness – between five and six days for unionized workers and around about five for non-unionized workers.

The president of the Canadian Nurses Association warned the situation will only get worse if changes aren’t made.

“(Nurses) will leave the health-care system and they will work in other areas,” Sylvan Brousseau said, speaking from Blainville, Que.  

“And the impact is the risk for the quality and safety for the patients.”