Canada's Health Staffing Shortage Persists Despite Hiring Gains

By Tahani Elghazaly
Published October 21, 2026

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Women account for nearly four in five health workers, while hospitals continue to rely on existing staff to cover unfilled positions.

Canada's health workforce grew by 81,200 people in 2025, yet employers still reported 67,900 vacancies as rising demand for care and difficulties retaining staff continued to strain services, according to a Statistics Canada report released Monday, October 19.

The workforce now exceeds 1.7 million people, with women accounting for 79.3% of employees and self-employed workers in health occupations.

Recruitment gains have eased some of the pressure. Vacancies have fallen from their 2023 peak, but remain substantially above earlier levels. Among licensed practical nurses, 12.3% of positions were unfilled in 2025, while employment in the occupation showed no net increase from 2019.

Hospitals have responded to staffing gaps by extending shifts and asking existing employees to work overtime to maintain patient care.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information reported in July 2025 that nursing-unit care providers in hospitals covered by its data had worked 22.6 million overtime hours in 2023–2024, equivalent to approximately 11,500 full-time positions.

Those additional hours help hospitals maintain services when vacancies cannot be filled. But repeated reliance on overtime carries its own consequences, including fatigue, burnout, increased sick leave and greater difficulty retaining experienced staff.

That creates a potentially self-reinforcing staffing problem: hospitals turn to longer shifts to compensate for shortages, while the added workload can make it harder to keep the workers they already have. Overtime may keep services running in the short term, but it cannot replace a stable, adequately staffed workforce.