How's the job prospective? I heard there is a hiring freeze

Fiona59 · Dec 18, 2008

Nurses for the most part are public employees.

When the economy hits the wall, the public sector employee pool is cut back. Nurses are among the "disposable" at these time. Contracts are often re-negotiated and wages rolled back.

Alberta's nurses remember the Kline cutbacks of the early '90s.

loriangel14, RN · Dec 18, 2008

It depends on where you are as well. There are jobs in my area for RNs and RPNs.

linzz · Dec 18, 2008

Here's the thing, yes there are opportunities for nurses, however as said, the economy directly impacts most hospital budgets. Some hospitals have more cash than others. When you start nursing, you have no seniority, so until you have some time in, you have no security. In a good economy, this is not an issue, but it is lately.

You have to be willing to work in areas other than the hospital or be willing to move if there are no hospital jobs in your area. Nursing has seen some good times and some very bad times like the early 90's and now. Check the website for ONA and read the political action area and you will see what has gone on in Ontario over the years.

mrnursing · Dec 19, 2008

Thank you for the insight guys.

It's unfortunate that we're facing a recession and bad economy.

I guess it's affecting everything including our health care system.

linzz · Dec 19, 2008

Don't give nursing though, mrnursing, if that is what you want to do. You will find work somewhere and eventually where you want. I don't think these times will last forever. Just goes in cycles.

steven44121 · Jan 21, 2009

Not sure where Fiona works but in 25 years that I have worked in hospital nursing in Ontario, the only time contracts were not honoured was during the Bob Rae years and accompanying Rae Days.

At that time, wages were frozen for all public sector employees for three years. And everyone including nurses had to take a certain number of unpaid days off per year (Rae Days).

Otherwise, in Ontario, contracts have never been renegotiated nor have wages been rolled back.

There is a hiring freeze at many hospitals right now, as they, like the entire world, struggles with the weak and worsening economy. Hospitals are reducing volumes in surgery and trying to make cuts.

However, you are starting nursing at a time when the average age of nurses is 47. Many nurses will be retiring over the coming years.

Look on the ONA (Ontario Nurses Association), website. According to the CNA, there will be a shortage of 78,000 nurses by 2011 and 113,00 by 2016.

You have nothing to worry about, I have seen so many cycles during the last 25 years and there are always those who fear monger. The bottom line is I have never been without a job, even during the tough times I always managed to find something.

I would suggest after you finish school, and gain a few years experience find a specialty and take extra courses to make you even more marketable. An ICU course is always a plus as ICU trained nurses can always find work.

Good luck to you

Fiona59 · Jan 21, 2009

Health care in Alberta was slashed in the '90s by the Kline government. Nurses let go and salaries renegotiated. I know nurses who worked in grocery stores to make ends meet, others went south, others left the profession.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Jan 21, 2009

Not sure where Fiona works but in 25 years that I have worked in hospital nursing in Ontario, the only time contracts were not honoured was during the Bob Rae years and accompanying Rae Days.
At that time, wages were frozen for all public sector employees for three years. And everyone including nurses had to take a certain number of unpaid days off per year (Rae Days).
Otherwise, in Ontario, contracts have never been renegotiated nor have wages been rolled back.

The multi-year contract concept is a relatively new development in nursing labour relations. Until the late 1990s most contracts ran at most two years. When the Employer (the province) held all the cards and layoffs were happening all over, they were happy to have a two year negotiation cycle because it allowed them to revisit things and tighten their belts even more. In Manitoba two consecutive contracts brought in rollbacks, including the infamous Filmon Fridays. Alberta not only laid nurses off, rolled back wages and benefits and closed beds, but Ralph Klein blew up hospitals. But as the nursing shortage became obvious even to the politicians and nursing unions began to gain momentum, the multi-year contract became more attractive to the Employer because it meant they could hold the line on wage increases even when the economy soared. Alberta even asked the UNA to take a vote on extending the 2003-2006 contract by one year and offered a 3% raise as incentive. That manoeuvre was successful. We're currently working under a three year contract to expire March 1, 2010; the Stelmach government is already sharpening their knives.

There is a hiring freeze at many hospitals right now, as they, like the entire world, struggles with the weak and worsening economy. Hospitals are reducing volumes in surgery and trying to make cuts.
However, you are starting nursing at a time when the average age of nurses is 47. Many nurses will be retiring over the coming years.
Look on the ONA (Ontario Nurses Association), website. According to the CNA, there will be a shortage of 78,000 nurses by 2011 and 113,00 by 2016.

Thse numbers are quite old and I wouldn't be surprised if the truth is much higher. The Canadian Federation of Nurses' Unions reports that for every nurse under the age of 35 there are two who are older, and fully 1/5 of nurses are over the age of 55.

You have nothing to worry about, I have seen so many cycles during the last 25 years and there are always those who fear monger. The bottom line is I have never been without a job, even during the tough times I always managed to find something.
I would suggest after you finish school, and gain a few years experience find a specialty and take extra courses to make you even more marketable. An ICU course is always a plus as ICU trained nurses can always find work.
Good luck to you

In 2005, again from the CFNU, Canadian nurses worked in excess of 18 MILLION hours of overtime, whether paid for it or not. That's the equivalent of more than 10,000 full time positions. These numbers represent 144% more OT worked in 2005 than in 1987. And nurses have among the highest amounts of time lost to illness and injury of all occupations. (That should be a no-brainier... look at how we do what we do for a living!)

There will be jobs for new nurses for many years to come, but they won't necessarily be the jobs those new nurses want. So there will be "dues" to pay, and people will have to take the jobs that are available until the jobs they want open up. I've been there and done that, and I'm saddened and disappointed that others have to follow my lead.

ruralgirl08 · Feb 1, 2009

Hi, I'm an 08' BScN grad from rural Ontario, and yes a few hospitals are in what appears to be a temporary hiring freeze. Last year I finished up 6mos. of full-time work with the new grad initiative guarantee program, and was not able to get a part-time or full-time job in the community hospital I was working in because of a hiring freeze. This hiring freeze was related to the hospital trying to balance the budget, and possible restructuring of a sister hospital r/t changes in amount of beds & a possible ED closure (this may create bumping from seniority, and potential layoffs.) In Ontario the LHINS, over see district areas, and allocates money to hospitals. There seems to be alot of restructuring and changing, but more to the community and smaller hospitals in ontario, or talk of, because they need to run the "system" more efficiently. I know in the larger city hospitals they seem to be crying for nurses, alot of my classmates recieved full-time jobs work right out of their new grad positions or right out of school, (which wasn't an option for me.) But no worries, there will be huge retirements in the next 5-10 years. Btw, I easily found a temp. full-time position at a smaller rural hospital, with potential of a permanent full-time in the next year. Which is a blessing, cause I am closer to home, and will be training in the specialty I wanted. I don't think you have anything to truly worry about, if this is what you want to be you should pursue it, and with the economy in this part of Ontario, nursing is a great profession to be in.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Aug 9, 2009

Alberta's minister of health, Ron Liepert, and Alberta Health Services' CEO Stephen Duckett have decided that there is no nursing shortage in Alberta anymore, only a shortage of nurses who work full time. They haven't exactly instituted a hiring freeze, they've just restricted almost all postings to nurses already employed by Alberta Health Services. So units that have vacancies can hire nurses from other units that probably have at least as many vacancies themselves, but not anyone who doesn't already have a job. And that means new graduates from Alberta's half-dozen nursing schools as well as nurses from other provinces or countries.

The province will be going into negotiations in January with the intent to roll back and claw back whatever they can and to ram through all sorts of unpleasantries. They will get a fight from the United Nurses of Alberta, for whom striking has been made illegal. The negotiations can be drawn out as long as AHS wants or makes them. It will be brutal and there will be a lot of militancy. Stay tuned.

Guest233447 · Aug 12, 2009

I'm only a nursing student at this point (start program in 3 weeks, yay!) so I'm watching the politics of all this with interest.

Will Albertan LPN's expect to see their wages rolled back? When I was first investigating nursing as a career, AB had the lowest paid LPN's in Canada. During the process of upgrading/electives, etc I watched with excitement as the new contract brought starting wages up to relate more closely with what other provinces were offering. Is this going to be lost to the herd of clowns now at the helm of AHS?

I won't be done the program for 2 years, but I certainly hope that when I am finished I can expect to make at least $20 or more per hour to start. It's an insult to offer educated professionals, who deal with everything a nurse must, anything less. Especially in a province that claims to be one of the wealthiest in the country...