Ontario will need more than 138,000 new workers in the public sector, long-term care, home care and child care over the next five years and may need to increase wages to attract enough people, the province's financial watchdog says.
The Financial Accountability Office (FAO) released a report Wednesday on public sector compensation and said 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 Progressive Conservative government has committed to building 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 as part of the incoming $10-a-day program.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the president of the treasury board Prabmeet Sarkaria said, "Today, the FAO confirmed that salary increases for unionized public sector employees have been consistent over the last decade. It also shows that the number of workers in hospitals has increased and will continue to grow under our government, compared to the previous Liberal government."
The statement from spokesperson Ian Allen went on to reference steps taken to bolster the health care workforce, including giving nurses a $5,000-retention bonus and temporary wage enhancements for personal and development service workers.
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