The Canadian Province of Ontario will need more than 138,000 new public sector workers in long-term care, home care and child care, according to a new report from the Financial Accountability Office (FAO).
The financial watchdog also predicted that the Government may have to increase wages to attract that number of people.
“Ontario is already facing high vacancy rates in those sectors and will need to both address those immediate challenges and ensure there are enough workers to fulfil its promises for the future,” the FAO said.
The Progressive Conservative Government has committed to establishing 30,000 new long-term care beds by 2028 and increasing the daily hours of direct care, as well as expanding the home care system and creating 71,000 new child-care spaces.
A spokesperson for the President of the Treasury Board, Prabmeet Sarkaria said salary increases for unionised public sector employees had been consistent over the last decade.
The spokesperson went on to reference steps taken to bolster the health care workforce, including giving nurses a $C5,000 ($A5,628) retention bonus and temporary wage enhancements for personal and development service workers.
However, the FAO report said public sector wage growth in Ontario was below inflation and below average rises in the private sector, as well as Municipal and Federal employees in the Province.
“As higher wages attract entry into the workforce from other sectors, Provinces or countries, or by those recently retired or out of the workforce due to other reasons, the Province may need to increase wages beyond the FAO’s base case assumption, to ensure sufficient staffing to maintain existing public services and meet program expansion commitments,” the report said.
Financial Accountability Officer, Peter Weltman said the Government did have some flexibility, noting Ontario had reported ending 2021-22 with a $C2.1 billion ($A2.36 billion) surplus.
“There is some fiscal room to manage, or to certainly try to address, some of the risks that we’ve highlighted in this report,” Mr Weltman said.
“How the Government chooses to use that fiscal room, of course, is up to the Government.”
Wage increases for most public sector workers are constrained under a law known as Bill 124, which caps rises at one per cent for a three-year period.
Toronto, 30 September 2022
