Salary for nurses in canada

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Feb 11, 2008

The provinces each have a union to which the nurses at the majority of acute care facilities and many long-term care facilities belong. Clinics outside of these facilities are not usually unionized, and the pay and benefits reflect this. Union dues vary by province; last year I paid a total of $841.

Income tax is subtracted from your wage and premiums; if you are paid $26 an hour, that is your basic rate and taxes are take out of that. There are premiums for working evenings, nights and weekends, being in charge and being on call. These would be added to your basic rate of pay, and taxes subtracted from the total. My income tax subtracted from my gross earnings totalled 20% last year.

In addition to income tax, there is Canada Pension Plan contributions subtracted from your wage, about 3% of your gross earnings. Then there's Employment Insurance, a maximum of $720 for 2007 and your portion of any benfitis package premiums you may have, such as extended health care, vision care, dental care, life insurance, disability insurance and personal pension contributions. My total deductions from my gross pay last year amounted to 35%. I make the top of the scale wage in Alberta and work 50:50 days and nights.

Does that help?

kitty catt · Feb 11, 2008

Thank you for the reply and explaining that very well. I really appreciated. How much do they pay differently between day and night?? Do you have income tax return in Canada?? Are there a lot of job vacancies for nurse??Do you think nurse make good money after subtract taxes?? Any info would be appreciated. Thank you. How much usually people can make at least after substracted taxes and every thing by bi weekly or month??

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Feb 11, 2008

Each province's union contract is a little different. The premiums are individual to the contract. This link will take you to a cross-country comparison of hours of work, wages and benefits so you can evaluate them: http://www.nursesunion.mb.ca/pdf%20files/CFNU_ContComp(12-17-07).pdf

It's up-to-date to the end of 2007 and is very easy to navigate your way through. Here in Alberta, evening premium is $2.25, as is the weekend premium, and nights is $3.50. These will increase as of April 1, 2008. They're cumulative, so if you work nights on a weekend you get both premiums, or an extra $5.75 an hour.

Our income tax filing deadline is April 30 each year. The return itself is very convoluted and difficult to understand in places. Tax preparers spring up on every street corner in late January and hang around until the middle of May. The exemptions and deductions also differ from province to province, as does the taxation rate. I usually get back a couple of hundred dollars a year, but not enough to really get excited about.

Nurses make good money even after taxes, but it seems these days that two incomes are becoming almost a requirement for a decent standard of living. I work part-time, 70% full time equivalent and my take home pay is about $1550 biweekly. But bear in mind that I live in Alberta, we are the highest paid nurses in Canada and I'm at the top of the scale. If you take the information found in the cross-country comparison and the information I gave you in my first post then do some simple math, you should be able to figure out what the take home pay in the provinces you're considering would be. An average full time work year in most provinces is about 2000 hours worked.

2000 hours per year

1000 hours of night premium (for 50:50 day to night rotation)

300 hours of evening premium (for those 86 twelve hour day shifts)

605 hours of weekend premium (for working alternate weekends)

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Gross income times 35% for taxes and deductions

Gross income minus taxes and deductions divided by 26 gives you a biweekly amount.

It won't be totally accurate but a good estimate.

There are a lot of nursing vacancies across the country, but if you read any of the threads that revolve around Internationally Educated Nurses and immigration (now moved to the International Nursing Forum) you'll see that even though there are lots of jobs it isn't a walk in the park for nurses from outside Canada to be hired for them.

And don't forget in your financial analysis to look at cost of living in the provinces you're considering. People making VERY good money are living lives that don't seem to correlate to their level of income because of housing and utilities costs, for example. The amount of money one makes doesn't always reflect the amount of comfort one derives from it.

kitty catt · Feb 12, 2008

Thank you for your reply again. I really appreciate that. Nurses in Canada usually work in rotation shifts?? Hospital which is not unionized pay more than ones which are unionized?? If I work in toronto,it's gonna be the same wage? or a little different?? In canada, usually how much usually cost for living?? Any info would be appreciated.

Fiona59 · Feb 12, 2008

KittyCat: what exactly do you need to know?

For the last 18 months or so, you have posted pretty much the same questions in various threads around the board. Our answers haven't changed.

Yes, the vast majority of Canadian nurses work rotating shifts and are unionized. You will find it very difficult if not impossible to get a day shift job as a new hire due to seniority issues.

You state you are a PN in the US. You must have an idea of how some of this works.

suzanne4, RN · Feb 12, 2008

Taxes are paid in most countries just as they are in the US, a few may be higher, but they are in the same range; otherwise how can a country pay for things that it provides.

The Canadian nursing system is quite similar to that of the US. Are you asking for a school paper or because you wish to work there?

With one major difference if you are thinking of moving there: Ontario, which is the province for Toronto does not recognize the one year LPN from the US, they only accept the two year program that is required there and the four year RN degree for licensure.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Feb 12, 2008

I believe there are many more nurses who work rotating shifts in hospitals than there are those who work all days or all nights.

As a rule, unionized nurses make quite a bit more than non-unionized ones. When I graduated in 1994 there were no hospital positions that were open to new grads in the city where I lived so I worked for a private agency. They charged the hospital about $7 an hour more for my services than the hospital was paying their own nurses, but paid ME about $6 less. So they pocketed $13 an hour for ever hour I worked, and I got about $12. Nurses who work in doctors' offices make several dollars an hour less than nurses in hospitals generally speaking. I'm sure there are some doctor's offices that pay more, but they wouldn't be seeing much turnover in their staff.

Nurses who work in hospitals in Toronto make the same hourly wage and shift premiums as nurses who work in small town hospitals. There's no location differential. The comparison I sent you shows exactly what nurses in Ontario are paid. You need to look at that to get the answer to your question. I don't have that information in my memory banks.

Canada is the second largest country by land mass in the world, with a population of about 32 million people. It's divided up into ten provinces and three territories, each with their own government, their own economies and their own laws. There is no "average Canadian cost of living". There are even big differences in the same province. Housing costs in Toronto, Ottawa, St Catherine's, Niagara Falls, London or any large city with a moderate climate would be considerably higher than those in places like Brockville, Petawawa, Lion's Head or Killaloe and other small towns. Maybe you need to look at some of the online newspapers in the areas you're thinking about and read the classifieds for guidance on that. Although I can't give you a number, I can tell you that Toronto has a high cost of living compared with many other large Canadian cities.

kitty catt · Feb 13, 2008

Thank you for the information. I really appreciate that. I'm interested in becoming a nurse in Canada,so that's why I asked.

medicx2004 · Apr 27, 2008

Good day, folks. I just wanna know the weekend rates for RNs in Canada specially in Edmonton? I am from "down under" and we do get 50% penalty rates on saturdays and 75% Sundays. Thanks you...:nuke:

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Apr 27, 2008

Evening premium is $2.25 an hour; weekend days premium is $2.75 and nights premium $4.25. They are cumulative so working nights on a weekend gets you an extra $7 an hour.

medicx2004 · May 3, 2008

Thanks for your reply. 'Got some more queries - How much nurses get paid in Alberta? How many annual leaves? Do you have union membership that covers you with insurance (work)? Do they offer 12 hour shifts? Thanks again...:wink2: