Health Minister Speaks About Home-Care Funding Increases, Meets with Personal Support Workers

Ontario’s Health Minister Deb Matthews recently visited Waterloo to promote the government’s decision to increase funding for home-based care services by four percent per year for three years.  However, in the town-hall meeting hosted by the Quality Care Alliance and the Service Employees International Union, Matthews was told by some personal support workers who work in the homes of clients who are elderly and disabled that they felt overworked and underappreciated.  Several personal support workers told the minister that they essentially felt like cheap labour.  One participant described herself as having the lowest paid college-educated job of all.

The issue of the wide discrepancy in pay between personal support workers in long-term-care facilities and those who work in home-based environments was brought up as well as the differences in the amount of time they have with clients.  Matthews acknowledged the discrepancies in both and noted that these were most likely the result of workers who work in the home-care environment not being unionized while those in long-term-care facilities are.  Matthews told the audience that she knew who was working their heart out in the healthcare system, and acknowledged that more needs to be done to support them.

Labour Market Information For Personal Support Workers

By Cynthia Herron
As the Canadian economy emerges from the current recession, a number of industry sectors will see above average growth to 2015. Among these are occupations in the healthcare field. 　The demographics of the Canadian population will be a major factor in the Canadian economy, affecting both labour market demand and supply. Seventy percent of new jobs to 2015 will be as a result of attrition (retirements, deaths) of existing employees. At the same time, the aging population (and its disproportionate medical needs) will create even greater demand for jobs in occupations in the healthcare field (e.g., personal support workers). 　

Now, more women work outside the home and cannot give full-time care to family members who are elderly, ill or have a disability. As well, the Ontario government has an Aging at Home Strategy. This means that more people may get health care at home instead of at the hospital. This has resulted in substantially more job openings for Personal Support Workers. 　

As healthcare costs rise, that industry will continue to look at cost-cutting strategies. One of these is to "push down" duties currently performed by higher-cost employees (e.g., nurses) to lower-cost staff (e.g., personal support workers), creating more of these types of job opportunities. As a result, the outlook or job prospects for this field are rated as exceptionally good by HRSDC