A study by Statistics Canada reveals that over 60% of foreign-educated healthcare professionals in Canada who trained to become nurses, pharmacists, physicians, etc., were employed in their field of study. It is said that among 259,694 foreign-educated healthcare professionals in Canada, over 76% were employed. This data includes professionals who are not working in the healthcare profession.
In addition, data from IRCC reveals that immigrants account for a quarter of healthcare sector professionals. Well, this number is expected to rise, as 500,000 healthcare professionals are older than 55 & will be retiring in the next ten years.
According to Statistics Canada, half of the foreign-educated healthcare professionals had immigrated at the start of their core working years, i.e., between the ages of 25 – 34. In addition, nearly one-third of all professionals had recently arrived in the nation.
Overall, two-thirds of these professionals were younger than 50 years. Moreover, it was also found that seven out of ten foreign professionals were women in Canada.
Where Do Foreign Educated Healthcare Professionals Settle?
The highest number of these professionals were residing in Ontario, followed by BC, & Alberta.
The lowest numbers of foreign-educated healthcare professionals were found in Canada’s Atlantic Provinces & northern territories. PEI had the lowest at 475, followed by three territories at 605. In addition, Nova Scotia had 3,195 foreign professionals.
Where Did They Study?
The study by Statistics Canada found that over 63% of healthcare professionals had obtained their education in Asia & 11% had studied in an English-speaking Western nation.
Asian-educated professionals accounted for around 75% in Manitoba, while 21% of professions in New Brunswick had studied in an English-speaking western country.
What Are Their Jobs?
Statistics Canada states that one-third of foreign-educated health professionals in Canada studied nursing. Among them, the top five professions were registered psychiatric nurses & registered nurses (34%), nurse aides, patient service associated, & orderlies (21%), licensed practical nurses (8%), social & community service workers (2%), & light duty cleaners (2%). Over half of the professionals in PEI had studied nursing.
The educated health professionals trained as physicians make up over 15% of all healthcare professionals in Canada. Moreover, most of them were living in Newfoundland & Labrador. In addition, the province was also found to have the highest overall proportion of these professionals who are employed in health professions.
Saskatchewan & Nova Scotia also had high employment rates for foreign-educated healthcare professionals working in healthcare occupations. However, in the rest of Canada i.e., 46% of professionals were employed in healthcare professions.
Labor Shortage In Healthcare
The latest job vacancy data from Statistics Canada demonstrates that there were over 147,100 job vacancies in June this year.
In addition, the report suggests that given the large number of healthcare professionals residing in Canada, there are many newcomers already in the country who have study permits & could contribute to addressing labor shortages in the health workforce.
One of the main causes of these professionals not finding work in their field is the difficulty in getting licensed in a regulated occupation in Canada. Each & every Canadian province has a different regulatory body, which has different varying requirements for healthcare professionals.
Still, the provinces are taking some steps in order to remove obstacles for these professionals. For instance, Nova Scotia now offers an expedited pathway for international nurses who are registered & hold a present license, which entitles them to practice as registered nurses in India, the US, the UK, Australia, the Philippines, Nigeria, & New Zealand.
Moreover, Ontario has introduced a number of new pieces of legislation, including that health regulatory colleges must comply with deadlines to make decisions regarding registrations & prohibit them from needing Canadian work experience for registration.
IRCC has also created six new Express Entry categories, which select eligible Express Entry applicants based on their profession rather than the CRS score. So far, over 2,000 ITAs have been issued to those in healthcare professions.
Finally, in October 2022, IRCC made it possible for physicians already practicing in Canada as temporary inhabitants to become eligible for Express Entry. This was not previously possible, as most physicians were considered self-employed.