Vacancies for nurses, support workers tripled since 2016, StatCan finds

From 2016 to 2024, the vacancy rate for health-related occupations nearly tripled, increasing from 2.1 per cent to 5.8 per cent, the report said.

The number of vacancies for nurses and personal support workers in Canada has tripled between 2016 and 2024, a new report by Statistics Canada found, with the vacancies in remote areas twice as high.

From 2016 to 2024, the vacancy rate (the proportion of all vacant positions) for health-related occupations nearly tripled, increasing from 2.1 per cent to 5.8 per cent, the report said.

Vacancies for nurses and personal support workers were the highest among health-care workers, with the vacancy rate for licensed practical nurses at 12.8 per cent.

While most vacancies were in larger urban centres that the report described as more accessible, vacancy rates for these occupations were nearly twice as high in remote regions (9.3 per cent) compared with accessible regions (5.5 per cent).

Remote regions were also more likely to have long-term vacancies of 90 days or more. More than six out of 10 vacancies for registered nurses (61.8 per cent) and licensed practical nurses (62.3 per cent) in remote regions were long-duration vacancies in 2024.

This is despite the fact that the hourly wage for registered nursing vacancies in remote regions ($37.49) was slightly higher than the corresponding hourly wage offered in urban regions ($35.66).

Similarly, the average offered hourly wage for licensed practical nurses in remote regions ($31.53) was higher than in accessible regions ($29.59).

On the other hand, the offered hourly wages for personal support workers were on average slightly lower in remote regions ($22.63) compared with accessible regions ($23.91), the report said.