Employment Prospects

Employment prospects for workers in the Health care and social assistance industry group are expected to be above average in upcoming years. Future openings will become available as a result of job creation and the need to replace experienced workers who retire. This industry group employs a large number of workers, so a significant number of future jobs are expected.

Governments at both the federal and provincial levels are making health care a priority. They are increasing funding to reduce surgical waiting lists and to maintain the quality of Canada’s health care services. However, there is also increasing pressure to find operational efficiencies within the medical system to ensure that costs do not rise to unmanageable levels.

Employment growth in hospital services will be the slowest within the health services industry, a result of efforts to control hospital costs and of increasing use of outpatient clinics and other alternative care sites. Hospitals will streamline health services delivery operations, provide more outpatient care and rely less on inpatient care. Besides job openings due to employment growth, additional openings will arise as workers leave the labour force or transfer to other occupations.

Fast growth is expected for workers in occupations concentrated outside the inpatient hospital industry, such as medical assistants and home health aides. Many of these services will be provided privately, particularly for seniors care.

Demand for dental care will rise due to population growth, greater retention of natural teeth by middle-aged and older people, greater awareness of the importance of dental care, and an increased ability to pay for services. Dentists will continue to use more support personnel, such as dental hygienists and assistants, to meet the increased workloads.

In some management, business and financial occupations, rapid growth will be tempered by restructuring to reduce administrative costs and streamline operations. The effects of office automation and other technological changes will slow employment growth in office and administrative support occupations, but because the employment base is large, replacement needs will continue to create substantial numbers of job openings. Technological changes, such as increased laboratory automation, will negatively affect the demand for other occupations as well.

While demand for social services will increase with the projected increase in the provincial population, government budgets are not being increased in this area to the degree that they are for health care services. Consequently, occupations such as social worker and community service worker will likely see growth constrained. However, there is private sector activity in these areas, especially in home support.

Future Job Growth