A profile of temporary foreign workers in health care

Canada’s health care system has long faced challenges in maintaining adequate staffing levels to meet the growing demand for health care services, and the issues have intensified since the pandemic. In 2024, for example, almost one-fifth (19%) of employees in health occupations (except management) worked overtime in 2024, and the share was particularly high among nursing and allied health professionals, where one in four (25%) worked overtime.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the job vacancy rate was 5.6% in hospitals and 5.0% in nursing and residential care facilities, while the all-industries average rate was 2.9%.

To address the labour shortage in the health care sector, the Canadian government has been actively recruiting internationally trained health care workers for many years.

The number of temporary foreign workers in the health care sector increased significantly during the pandemic

The number of temporary foreign workers in the health care sector grew significantly from 2000 to 2022.

In 2000, 3,200 temporary foreign workers were working in the health care sector. By 2022, the latest year for which data are available, this number was 17 times larger, at 57,500.

Growth among temporary foreign workers in the health care sector continued in the years leading up to 2020 and accelerated in the wake of the pandemic. From 2019 to 2020, the number of temporary foreign workers in the health care sector grew by 13,200, bringing the total to 39,300.

Despite the rapid increase, temporary foreign workers represented a small share of the health care workforce overall: in 2022, they accounted for 3.0% of the total workforce in ambulatory health care services, 1.2% of the workforce in hospitals and 4.9% of the workforce in nursing and residential care facilities.

Just over two-thirds of temporary foreign workers in health care work in Ontario or Quebec

Approximately two in five (43%) temporary foreign workers in the health care sector worked in Ontario and one-quarter (26%) in Quebec.

Four provinces had a higher share of temporary foreign workers in the health care sector compared with the national average of 2.7% in 2022: Prince Edward Island (3.9%), Nova Scotia (3.8%), New Brunswick (3.4%) and Ontario (3.3%).

The share of temporary foreign workers in the health care sector was below the national average in Saskatchewan (1.7%) and Alberta (1.5%).

India has replaced the Philippines as the main source country of temporary foreign workers in health care

In 2000, 59% of temporary foreign workers in the health care sector came from 10 countries, with the largest source being the Philippines (15%). Over the following two decades, the composition of the top source countries changed.

The number of Filipino workers increased rapidly from around 500 at the beginning of the millennium to over 4,000 in 2012 and 2013, accounting for one-third (32%) of total temporary foreign workers. The number of Filipino health workers declined markedly afterwards but rebounded during the pandemic, reaching 6,100 in 2022.

In the 2000s, workers from India represented about 3% to 4% of temporary foreign workers. During the next decade, however, their number increased more than tenfold and surpassed that of Filipino workers in 2017.

By 2022, there were close to 15,000 Indian workers employed in the health care sector, accounting for 32% of temporary foreign workers in ambulatory health care services, 14% of those in hospitals and 25% of those in nursing and residential care facilities.

Almost three in four temporary foreign workers in the health care sector who become permanent residents are women

Over half (58%) of the temporary foreign workers who worked in the health care sector from 2000 to 2022 had obtained permanent residency in Canada by 2023.

Temporary foreign workers from developing countries generally had higher permanent residency transition rates than those from other regions.

For example, 77% of Filipino workers and 57% of Indian workers had obtained permanent residency status by 2023, compared with 43% of French workers.

Approximately three in four of the 105,000 temporary foreign workers who worked in the health care sector and became Canadian permanent residents from 2005 to 2023 were women.

Most temporary foreign workers with health-occupation-specific work permits stay in the same sector after becoming a permanent resident

About two-thirds of the temporary foreign workers who worked in health care remained in the sector one year after becoming a permanent resident, and over half were still working in the sector five years later.

Temporary foreign workers holding health-occupation-specific work permits had an even higher industrial industry retention rate after becoming a permanent resident, with over 80% remaining in the sector for at least one year, while 75% remained for at least five years and approximately two in three were still working in the sector a decade later.

Further reading

The full report “Temporary foreign workers in health care: Characteristics, transition to permanent residency and industry retention” is available online.