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Canada recorded 19,500 open positions for registered nurses in 2025 and projects a strong risk of profession shortage until 2033
Canada has reduced the total volume of open positions in recent years, but one profession remains among the most difficult to fill: that of a registered nurse. Even with the labor market slowdown, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and care services continue to seek professionals to sustain the functioning of the healthcare system. According to Statistics Canada, there were 19,500 open positions for registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses in the second quarter of 2025.
This data gains even more weight because the shortage does not appear in isolation. The same publication from Statistics Canada shows that registered nurses, nursing assistants, and licensed practical nurses accounted for 61.2% of all open positions in the healthcare sector during that period. This indicates that the pressure is not concentrated in a single position but in a central part of the workforce that keeps care functioning in the country.
Nursing remains among the most sought-after professions in Canada
According to Statistics Canada, even with the overall drop in positions in 2025, healthcare remained among the sectors with the greatest hiring needs. The 19,500 open positions for registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses placed the profession among the most demanded in the country, alongside other critical care functions.
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The same survey also pointed out 14,100 positions for nursing assistants and patient care and 8,700 positions for licensed practical nurses. Even in decline compared to the previous year, these numbers remain high and above the levels observed before the pandemic, which reinforces that the pressure on Canadian healthcare has not disappeared with the normalization of the labor market.
In practice, this means that nursing has consolidated as one of the most sensitive occupations in the country. When there is a shortage of professionals in these roles, the impact goes beyond statistics and directly affects queues, care coverage, hospital scheduling, and capacity to provide services in various provinces.
Hospitals, long-term care, and regional services increase pressure for nurses
The demand for nurses in Canada is not limited to large urban hospitals. The volume of vacancies reflects the simultaneous need for hiring across different fronts of the healthcare system, including hospital services, long-term care, psychiatric care, and regional structures struggling with staff replacement.
According to Statistics Canada, job vacancies in healthcare remain significantly above pre-pandemic levels, indicating a persistent and widespread shortage across the system.
This scenario helps explain why the profession remains under pressure even in a broader economic slowdown.
The need for nurses does not only follow the pace of the job market but also the continuous demand for care, an aging population, complex care, and the replacement of professionals leaving the career. This combination keeps the profession at a high level of structural necessity.
Canada projects a strong risk of nurse shortage until 2033
The most important data to understand the problem’s dimension appears in the official projections of the Canadian government. According to the Job Bank, based on the Canadian Occupational Projections System, the occupation of registered nurse faces a strong risk of labor shortage at the national level between 2024 and 2033.
The projection shows that the current pressure is not treated as a temporary phenomenon. The Canadian government considers that the profession will remain under tension throughout the next decade, suggesting continued competition for workers, the need for replacement, and difficulty balancing supply and demand.
The system itself reports that there were 363,100 people employed in the occupation in 2023, with 26% of workers being 50 years or older and a median retirement age of 63 years.
This age profile helps explain why the shortage tends to persist. A significant portion of the current workforce is nearing retirement, while the system continues to need new professionals to sustain assistance, replace departures, and meet growing demand.
Nurse shortage has become a structural issue in the Canadian market
When you look at the numbers together, the situation becomes clearer. On one side, Statistics Canada recorded 19,500 open positions for registered nurses in the second quarter of 2025. On the other, the Job Bank, supported by the government’s official occupational projections system, classified the profession with a strong risk of shortage until 2033.
This shows that nursing does not appear among the most sought-after professions in Canada just because of a conjunctural pressure. It has established itself as a strategic career for the functioning of the healthcare system, with high demand in the present and signs of continuity in the near future.
In other words, the issue is not just how many positions exist now, but the fact that the country has already officially recognized that it will have difficulty meeting this need in the coming years. At the center of this scenario is a profession indispensable for hospitals, mental health, continued care, and direct service to the population.
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