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Note: This report was revised on August 09, 2023. The original report was published on June 21, 2023. This updated report includes revised data for gains and losses, found in section 1.0 and 4.2. Gains and losses were inadvertently counted at the registration level instead of the registrant level. There are no changes to the overall net values. We strive to ensure rigor when sharing data with the public and our partners and have updated the report to reflect the most relevant data. If you have any questions, please contact: cnostats@cnomail.org

1 Executive Summary

The Registration Renewal Statistics Report 2023 summarizes the registration and employment data collected from nurses who renewed their College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) registration for the 2023 year. The report focuses on three nurse types: Registered Nurses (RNs), Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs), and Nurse Practitioners (NPs), and is broken down into three sections. First, the data is presented at the registrant or individual nurse level, then by certificate of registration, followed by employment position. In the registrant section, each nurse is counted once. In the registration section, the data is presented by nurse type, so dual RN/RPNs will be counted twice, once as an RN and once as an RPN. Finally, in the last section, the data is presented at the level of employment position. Because nurses can hold multiple positions, a single nurse may be counted multiple times. For example, a nurse who holds two positions in a hospital and another in a family health team will be counted twice under the practice setting “acute care hospital” and once under “family health team”.

Overall, the number of nurses in Ontario continues to grow. In 2023, 178,184 nurses renewed at least one certificate of registration in the General or Extended Class, resulting in a net increase of 3.05% of registrants compared to 2022. This year-over-year increase is the highest since at least 2016. The Non-Practising Class also saw a 4.52% increase in registrants compared to 2022, up from 3.19% in 2022.

This line chart shows the total number of registrants for the General and Extended Classes. The horizontal axis shows the renewal years from 2016 to 2023. The vertical axis shows the number of registrants. Additionally, the percent change in number of registrants is also shown for each section compared to the previous year.

The net change in registrants can be calculated by subtracting the total number of losses from gains. The number of losses, or registrants who did not renew their registration with CNO in 2023, was 7,215, which is 442 more than in 2022. This was offset by 12,485 gains, or registrants who renewed a registration in 2023 but did not in the previous year, an increase of more than 1,600 gains compared to 2022. Driving the increase in gains was the uptick in new internationally educated nurses registering in the province,¹ facilitated by several CNO registration regulation changes designed to help increase the supply of nurses in Ontario.²

Type	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Gains	8,616	8,575	9,405	11,220	9,479	9,480	10,814	12,485
Losses	5,985	6,133	6,617	6,486	6,632	6,535	6,773	7,215
Net	2,631	2,442	2,788	4,734	2,847	2,945	4,041	5,270
This table shows the gains, losses and net difference for the General and Extended Classes for the renewal years of 2016 to 2023.

The number of nurses reporting nursing employment in Ontario increased from 150,304 nurses in 2020 to 158,430 in 2023. However, as a proportion of all nurses in the General and Extended Classes, it has shifted from 90.6% in 2020 to 88.9% in 2023. During the same time frame, the proportion practising outside of the province or going on leave has increased. While these trends began prior to 2020, they appear to have accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The distribution of where nurses are reporting employment has also changed over time. The total number of employment positions held in the Long-Term Care sector fell in 2021 and 2022, most notably for RPNs. While numbers rebounded in 2023, they have not reached pre-pandemic levels.

While the total number of nurses renewing their registration and the total number reporting employment in nursing in Ontario have grown each year, modest shifts in registration and employment trends since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have tempered further gains to the workforce.

2 Introduction

CNO is the regulatory body for nurses in Ontario, Canada. Our purpose is to protect the public by promoting safe nursing practice.

CNO sets the requirements for becoming a nurse in Ontario and the standards of practice that nurses must meet to maintain that designation. Only a person with a valid certificate of registration from CNO can practice as a nurse in Ontario and use the protected titles: nurse, Registered Nurse (RN), Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) or Nurse Practitioner (NP). Any nurse who holds a certificate of registration with CNO is considered a registrant. A registration is specific to a category and class, and registrants may hold more than one registration.

There are two categories of registration at CNO: RN and RPN, with different classes for each. Nurses in the General and Extended Classes that meet all the requirements can work anywhere in Ontario without restrictions.³ The RNs registered in the Extended Class are known as Nurse Practitioners; there is no Extended Class for RPNs. Those in the Temporary Class have limits on where and how they can work,⁴ and those in the Non-Practising Class cannot work as nurses.

Every year, CNO requires registrants in the General, Extended and Non-Practising Classes to renew their registration.⁵ As part of the renewal process, CNO collects registrants’ demographic and employment information to carry out its regulatory mandate. A small percentage of registrants obtain registration in both the RN and RPN categories. At renewal, these dual registrants can choose to renew one or both registrations. This report contains registration and employment statistics collected from all nurses who renewed at least one certificate of registration in 2023. Reporting on data collected during renewal provides a standardized, detailed comparison of health human resource trends over time in Ontario, highlighting changes to the overall nursing population, demographic shifts, and employment patterns.

CNO continually enhances its reports based on stakeholder feedback. To find out more about CNO’s statistical resources or to sign up for its statistics announcements, please visit www.cno.org/stats.

3 Methods and Notes

3.1 Reporting and renewal period

This report presents demographic and employment statistics of the nurses who renewed their registrations for 2023 and compares it to data from the 2016 to 2022 renewal periods. The renewal period is the period of time when nurses are eligible to renew their registration for the subsequent year and occurs during several months at the end of each year. It typically starts in November and runs until March of the following year. Nurses who register after December 31st are subjected to a late fee. If registrants have not renewed by February, they will be suspended. The final deadline occurs in March, whereafter nurses’ registrations will be expired. This year’s renewal period opened on November 30th, 2022, and closed on March 20th, 2023. The data presented in this report reflect the data captured during this process.

3.2 Report structure

This report is broken down into three main sections: Registrants, Registrations, and Employment positions held in Ontario.

The Registrants section presents data at the individual nurse, or registrant level, for nurses who renewed their CNO registration. Nurses who renewed multiple registrations were only counted once.

The Registrations section describes data associated with each certificate of registration that was renewed, as opposed to each nurse. As such, a nurse who renewed both their RN and RPN registrations were counted twice.

The last section, Employment positions held in Ontario presents data related to nursing employment positions that are held by CNO registrants in Ontario at the time of renewal. Only positions that are held by registrants are reported to CNO. Because registrants can hold multiple positions, across more than one registration, the total number of positions is greater than the number of registrations employed in nursing in Ontario. The number of positions presented in this section does not reflect the total number of available positions.

3.3 Nurse categories and classes

In this report, the primary focus is on nurses in the General and Extended Classes. While nurses may hold registration in more than one category (RN or RPN) at the same time, they cannot be in multiple classes in the same category. For example, a nurse may hold both RN General and RPN General registration but cannot be in the RN General and Extended classes (NP) simultaneously. Those who hold both RN and RPN registrations are considered dual RN/RPNs. Though CNO categorizes nurses based on their category and class, for simplicity, this report will present data by the following nurse types:

RN: Registered Nurse in the General Class
RPN: Registered Practical Nurse in the General Class
NP: Registered Nurse in the Extended Class
Dual RN/RPN: Registered Nurse in the General/Extended Class and Registered Practical Nurse in the General Class

Data on nurses in the Non-Practising Class is also included in this report. These registrants cannot practise nursing and are categorized as either RNs or RPNs. There are no NPs in the Non-Practising Class. Additionally, a nurse cannot hold dual registration where one category is in the Non-Practising Class and the other is not. For example, a dual RN/RPN nurse cannot be registered as an in the RN General Class and an RPN Non-Practising Class at the same time.

3.4 Other statistics

Several demographic and employment characteristics and statistics are examined in the report and are listed below:

Age is calculated based on the date the nurse renewed their registration.
Gender is reported by registrants upon initial registration with CNO and is male, female, or not stated. Not stated refers to missing data, where neither female or male was provided upon registration.
Employment status categorizes registrants or registrations based on different combinations of employment, such as employed in nursing only, employed in non-nursing, not employed, on leave, and whether the employment is in or outside of Ontario.
Number of working positions is the total number of employment positions held per certificate of registration.
Working status indicates whether an employment position held is full-time, part-time, or casual.
Overall working status indicates whether the combination of employment positions held is full-time, part-time, per certificate of registration. A detailed definition can be found here: Overall Working Status.
Employment setting is the practice setting associated with a held employment position and reflects the immediate practice environment.
Employment position is the role associated with a held employment position and reflects broad job titles or position names.
Area of practice is the focused practice area associated with a held employment position and reflects the type of care delivered and/or patient population.

Note: Geographic regions are being updated to reflect Ontario Health (OH) regions and are not currently included. Once the data is available the report will be updated to reflect the changes.

4 Registrants

This section of the report presents data related to individual registrants. Nurses who renewed multiple registrations are only counted once.

4.1 Overall Renewals

Please use the drop-down menu below to filter by General & Extended or Non-Practising Classes.

General & Extended Classes

Nurse type	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
RN	103,407	103,729	104,331	105,919	107,187	108,976	110,938	114,080
RPN	46,155	47,993	49,943	52,803	54,141	55,056	56,846	58,469
NP	2,822	3,082	3,306	3,569	3,819	4,035	4,352	4,642
Dual RN/RPN	733	755	767	790	781	806	778	993
Total	153,117	155,559	158,347	163,081	165,928	168,873	172,914	178,184

Non-Practising Class

Nurse type	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
RN	8,816	8,863	10,499	10,516	10,744	10,775	11,014	11,493
RPN	1,875	2,033	2,901	3,129	3,433	3,607	3,828	4,026
Dual RN/RPN	14	22	31	27	29	27	28	23
Total	10,705	10,918	13,431	13,672	14,206	14,409	14,870	15,542

General & Extended Classes

Nurse type	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
RN	67.5%	66.7%	65.9%	64.9%	64.6%	64.5%	64.2%	64.0%
RPN	30.1%	30.9%	31.5%	32.4%	32.6%	32.6%	32.9%	32.8%
NP	1.8%	2.0%	2.1%	2.2%	2.3%	2.4%	2.5%	2.6%
Dual RN/RPN	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%	0.4%	0.6%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Non-Practising Class

Nurse type	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
RN	82.4%	81.2%	78.2%	76.9%	75.6%	74.8%	74.1%	73.9%
RPN	17.5%	18.6%	21.6%	22.9%	24.2%	25.0%	25.7%	25.9%
Dual RN/RPN	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Overall, the number of registrants in the General and Extended Classes has increased by 16.4% from 2016 to 2023. Similar increases were seen across all categories and classes. In 2023, 178,184 nurses renewed in the General and Extended Classes, a year-over-year increase of 3.05%. The number of nurses renewing in the Non-Practising Class also grew by 4.52% compared to 2022. Proportionally, RNs have made up the majority of registrants from 2016 to 2023. However, the share of RPNs is growing, most notably in the Non-Practising Class. For dual registrants, only 1 renewed as both an NP and RPN in 2023. The remaining 992 were RN/RPNs in the General Class.

Gains: A gain to the total registrant pool is a nurse who renewed one or more registrations in the current renewal period but did not renew any registration in the year prior. They represent the number of new nurses available to the system. Examples of gains are new registrants and reinstatements.
Losses: A loss to the total registrant pool is a nurse who did not renew any registration in the current renewal period but did renew one or more registrations in the year prior. They represent the number of nurses who have left the system. A loss is not necessarily permanent, as a registrant can return in a subsequent year.
Net: The net difference is calculated by subtracting the number of registrant losses from the number of registrant gains at the end of the renewal period. This represents the overall change in the number of nurses available to the system year-over-year.

Please use the drop-down menu below to filter by General & Extended or Non-Practising Classes.

General & Extended Classes

Type	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Gains	8,616	8,575	9,405	11,220	9,479	9,480	10,814	12,485
Losses	5,985	6,133	6,617	6,486	6,632	6,535	6,773	7,215
Net	2,631	2,442	2,788	4,734	2,847	2,945	4,041	5,270

Non-Practising Class

Type	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Gains	1,923	1,705	4,008	2,573	2,739	2,656	2,848	3,360
Losses	1,244	1,492	1,495	2,332	2,205	2,453	2,387	2,688
Net	679	213	2,513	241	534	203	461	672

In 2023, within the General and Extended Classes, there was a total gain of 12,485 nurses to the registrant pool and a total loss of 7,215, resulting in a net gain of 5,270 nurses available to the system. While losses to the number of registrants grew from 6,773 to 7,215, it was offset by even greater increases in gains, leading to a net growth of 5,270 nurses in Ontario, the largest year-over-year increase since 2016. Driving the increase in gains was the uptick in new internationally educated nurses registering in the province,⁶ facilitated by several CNO registration regulations changes designed to help increase the supply of nurses in Ontario.⁷ For the Non-Practising Class, there was a gain of 3,360 registrants, a loss of 2,688 registrants leading to a net gain of 672 nurses.

4.3 Age Distribution

Please use the drop-down menu below to filter by General & Extended or Non-Practising Classes.

General & Extended Classes

Age Group	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
18 - 24	7,750	7,772	8,181	9,357	9,707	9,534	9,640	9,200
25 - 34	37,586	39,976	42,387	45,220	47,252	49,124	50,995	53,697
35 - 44	33,453	33,855	34,466	35,634	36,994	38,753	41,285	44,715
45 - 54	37,859	37,859	37,751	37,212	36,396	36,111	35,763	35,702
55 - 64	29,951	29,419	28,748	28,646	28,644	28,419	28,113	27,652
65+	6,518	6,678	6,814	7,012	6,935	6,932	7,118	7,218
Total	153,117	155,559	158,347	163,081	165,928	168,873	172,914	178,184

Non-Practising Class

Age Group	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
18 - 24	28	24	108	143	172	128	129	132
25 - 34	987	1,132	1,738	1,959	2,181	2,199	2,272	2,514
35 - 44	1,847	1,845	2,084	2,132	2,196	2,292	2,515	2,813
45 - 54	2,654	2,655	2,896	2,831	2,865	2,792	2,804	2,784
55 - 64	3,320	3,308	4,009	3,929	3,944	3,916	3,861	3,953
65+	1,869	1,954	2,596	2,678	2,848	3,082	3,289	3,346
Total	10,705	10,918	13,431	13,672	14,206	14,409	14,870	15,542

General & Extended Classes

Age Group	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
18 - 24	5.1%	5.0%	5.2%	5.7%	5.9%	5.6%	5.6%	5.2%
25 - 34	24.5%	25.7%	26.8%	27.7%	28.5%	29.1%	29.5%	30.1%
35 - 44	21.8%	21.8%	21.8%	21.9%	22.3%	22.9%	23.9%	25.1%
45 - 54	24.7%	24.3%	23.8%	22.8%	21.9%	21.4%	20.7%	20.0%
55 - 64	19.6%	18.9%	18.2%	17.6%	17.3%	16.8%	16.3%	15.5%
65+	4.3%	4.3%	4.3%	4.3%	4.2%	4.1%	4.1%	4.1%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Non-Practising Class

Age Group	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
18 - 24	0.3%	0.2%	0.8%	1.0%	1.2%	0.9%	0.9%	0.8%
25 - 34	9.2%	10.4%	12.9%	14.3%	15.4%	15.3%	15.3%	16.2%
35 - 44	17.3%	16.9%	15.5%	15.6%	15.5%	15.9%	16.9%	18.1%
45 - 54	24.8%	24.3%	21.6%	20.7%	20.2%	19.4%	18.9%	17.9%
55 - 64	31.0%	30.3%	29.8%	28.7%	27.8%	27.2%	26.0%	25.4%
65+	17.5%	17.9%	19.3%	19.6%	20.0%	21.4%	22.1%	21.5%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Since 2016, within the General and Extended class, the proportion of registrants under 44 years of age grew from 51.4% to 60.4% of all registrants, while the share of 45 years and older decreased from 48.6% to 39.6%. most pronounced, were the increases in the 25 - 44 age group and the decreases in the 45 - 64 age group. Older nurses 65+ and younger nurses 18 - 24 have remained relatively stable during the last 8 years. Comparatively, the share of nurses in the Non-Practising Class above 65 has grown from 17.5% in 2016 to 21.5% in 2023 while the proportion who are 25 - 34 years old has almost doubled from 9.2% from 16.2% in the same time. The group of nurses aged 45 - 64 has decreased from 55.8% to 43.3%. Overall, the age of nurses in the General and Extended Classes is decreasing, while the distribution of Non-Practising nurses is growing in both younger (25 - 34) and (65+) older nurses.

4.4 Gender Distribution

Please use the drop-down menu below to filter by General & Extended or Non-Practising Class.

General & Extended Classes

Gender	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Female	141,892	143,705	145,735	149,541	151,626	153,913	157,090	161,369
Male	11,225	11,854	12,612	13,540	14,301	14,943	15,779	16,739
Not Stated	0	0	0	0	1	17	45	76
Total	153,117	155,559	158,347	163,081	165,928	168,873	172,914	178,184

Non-Practising Class

Gender	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Female	10,105	10,214	12,518	12,699	13,146	13,315	13,700	14,317
Male	600	704	913	973	1,060	1,094	1,170	1,225
Total	10,705	10,918	13,431	13,672	14,206	14,409	14,870	15,542

General & Extended Classes

Gender	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Female	92.67%	92.38%	92.04%	91.70%	91.38%	91.14%	90.85%	90.56%
Male	7.33%	7.62%	7.96%	8.30%	8.62%	8.85%	9.13%	9.39%
Not Stated	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.01%	0.03%	0.04%
Total	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

Non-Practising Class

Gender	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Female	94.4%	93.6%	93.2%	92.9%	92.5%	92.4%	92.1%	92.1%
Male	5.6%	6.4%	6.8%	7.1%	7.5%	7.6%	7.9%	7.9%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

In the General and Extended Classes and the Non-Practising Class, there has been a small increase in the proportion of male registrants during the last decade, though females continue to make up more than 90% of all registrants.

4.5 Employment Status

Please use the drop-down menu below to filter by General & Extended or Non-Practising Class.

General & Extended Classes

Employment Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Employed in nursing in Ontario	139,635	140,749	143,872	148,332	150,304	152,169	155,018	158,430
Employed in nursing outside Ontario only	1,878	2,397	2,565	2,687	2,851	3,159	3,585	4,275
Employed in non-nursing	1,990	1,964	1,809	2,042	1,926	1,609	1,544	1,854
Not employed in nursing or non-nursing	6,455	6,311	6,504	6,301	6,086	6,243	6,958	7,547
On leave	3,159	4,138	3,597	3,719	4,761	5,693	5,809	6,078
Total	153,117	155,559	158,347	163,081	165,928	168,873	172,914	178,184

Non-Practising Class

Employment Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Employed in nursing in Ontario	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Employed in nursing outside Ontario only	3,316	3,505	3,452	3,869	3,974	3,857	3,981	4,279
Employed in non-nursing	2,198	2,174	2,157	2,583	2,666	2,572	2,596	2,628
Not employed in nursing or non-nursing	4,262	4,256	6,796	5,562	5,824	6,040	6,247	6,517
On leave	929	983	1,026	1,658	1,742	1,940	2,046	2,118
Total	10,705	10,918	13,431	13,672	14,206	14,409	14,870	15,542

General & Extended Classes

Employment Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Employed in nursing in Ontario	91.2%	90.5%	90.9%	91.0%	90.6%	90.1%	89.7%	88.9%
Employed in nursing outside Ontario only	1.2%	1.5%	1.6%	1.6%	1.7%	1.9%	2.1%	2.4%
Employed in non-nursing	1.3%	1.3%	1.1%	1.3%	1.2%	1.0%	0.9%	1.0%
Not employed in nursing or non-nursing	4.2%	4.1%	4.1%	3.9%	3.7%	3.7%	4.0%	4.2%
On leave	2.1%	2.7%	2.3%	2.3%	2.9%	3.4%	3.4%	3.4%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Non-Practising Class

Employment Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Employed in nursing in Ontario	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Employed in nursing outside Ontario only	31.0%	32.1%	25.7%	28.3%	28.0%	26.8%	26.8%	27.5%
Employed in non-nursing	20.5%	19.9%	16.1%	18.9%	18.8%	17.8%	17.5%	16.9%
Not employed in nursing or non-nursing	39.8%	39.0%	50.6%	40.7%	41.0%	41.9%	42.0%	41.9%
On leave	8.7%	9.0%	7.6%	12.1%	12.3%	13.5%	13.8%	13.6%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

In 2023, the number of nurses working in Ontario increased from 155,018 to 158,430. This represents 88.9% of all General and Extended Class registrants, a slight proportional decrease from 2022 where 89.7% of nurses reported being employed in nursing in the province. Since 2016, the percentage of registrants reporting actively participating in Ontario’s workforce has hovered around 90%, peaking in 2016 at 91.2%. During the same period, the proportion of registrants on leave and reporting employment only outside of Ontario has grown from 3.3% to 5.8% of all registrants in the General and Extended Classes. For the Non-Practising Class, the proportion of nurses employed in non-nursing has decreased over time, while the proportion of nurses on leave has increased, peaking in 2022 at 13.8%.

5 Registrations

The following section outlines data related to all renewed certificates of registration. A registrant can hold a registration in either or both the RN and RPN categories. Therefore, for dual registrants, data associated with each registration is presented.

5.1 Overall Renewals

Please use the drop-down menu below to filter by General & Extended or Non-Practising Class.

5.1.1 Graph

This bar chart shows the number of General and Extended class registrations that were renewed. The horizontal axis shows the renewal years from 2016 to 2023. The vertical axis shows the number of registrations. Additionally, each bar has three portions representing the categorizations: RN, RPN, and NP.

General & Extended Classes

Category	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
RN	104,140	104,483	105,098	106,709	107,968	109,782	111,716	115,073
RPN	46,888	48,748	50,710	53,593	54,922	55,862	57,624	59,462
NP	2,822	3,083	3,306	3,569	3,819	4,035	4,352	4,642
Total	153,850	156,314	159,114	163,871	166,709	169,679	173,692	179,177

Non-Practising Class

Category	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
RN	8,830	8,885	10,530	10,543	10,773	10,802	11,042	11,516
RPN	1,889	2,055	2,932	3,156	3,462	3,634	3,856	4,049
Total	10,719	10,940	13,462	13,699	14,235	14,436	14,898	15,565

General & Extended Classes

Category	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
RN	67.7%	66.8%	66.1%	65.1%	64.8%	64.7%	64.3%	64.2%
RPN	30.5%	31.2%	31.9%	32.7%	32.9%	32.9%	33.2%	33.2%
NP	1.8%	2.0%	2.1%	2.2%	2.3%	2.4%	2.5%	2.6%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Non-Practising Class

Category	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
RN	82.4%	81.2%	78.2%	77.0%	75.7%	74.8%	74.1%	74.0%
RPN	17.6%	18.8%	21.8%	23.0%	24.3%	25.2%	25.9%	26.0%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

In 2023, the number of registrations renewed grew to 179,177 from 173,692 in 2022, a 3.2% increase. Proportionally, the distribution across nurse types is nearly identical to 2022. From 2016 to 2023, there was a 16.5% increase in the General and Extended Classes renewals. In the three nursing categories, RN, RPN, and NP, there was a 10.5%, 26.8%, and 64.5% increase respectively over the past eight years, indicating a gradual shift in the distribution of nurse types over time. The large relative increase in the number of NPs is due to small absolute numbers, growing from 2,822 to 4,642. Moreover, the Non-Practising Class has grown by 45.2% during the past eight years with RPN registrations increasing at a higher rate than RNs.

5.2 Employment Status

Note: The remainder of the report presents employment statistics. Because Non-Practising nurses are not permitted to work as nurses in Ontario, only data from nurses in the General and Extended Classes are displayed going forward.

Please use the drop-down menu below to filter by nurse type.

RN

Employment Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Employed in nursing only
In Ontario	92,698	92,049	92,801	94,475	94,733	94,961	96,134	97,764
In and outside Ontario	720	743	772	763	793	722	912	1,225
Outside Ontario	1,390	1,808	1,963	2,062	2,190	2,357	2,715	3,290
Employed in nursing & non-nursing
In Ontario	2,558	2,522	2,535	2,615	2,752	3,524	3,144	3,095
In and outside Ontario	28	36	34	37	48	38	40	56
Outside Ontario	80	102	87	85	101	148	136	157
Employed in non-nursing only
Seeking nursing employment	407	379	376	438	435	337	363	509
Not seeking nursing employment	255	246	274	250	242	291	296	377
Not employed
Seeking nursing employment	2,233	2,185	2,091	2,267	2,230	2,251	2,582	2,913
Not seeking nursing employment	1,689	1,731	1,935	1,463	1,519	1,711	1,879	1,971
On leave
On leave	2,082	2,682	2,230	2,254	2,925	3,442	3,515	3,716
Total	104,140	104,483	105,098	106,709	107,968	109,782	111,716	115,073

RPN

Employment Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Employed in nursing only
In Ontario	39,433	40,813	42,797	45,149	46,457	46,077	48,701	50,125
In and outside Ontario	55	70	74	65	71	64	126	176
Outside Ontario	348	424	447	455	449	514	584	672
Employed in nursing & non-nursing
In Ontario	2,014	2,214	2,374	2,525	2,564	3,674	2,583	2,445
In and outside Ontario	4	3	5	5	6	7	4	9
Outside Ontario	27	25	29	26	36	43	42	43
Employed in non-nursing only
Seeking nursing employment	1,153	1,194	982	1,190	1,047	767	658	707
Not seeking nursing employment	191	156	177	166	201	216	232	272
Not employed
Seeking nursing employment	2,149	2,048	1,858	2,165	1,888	1,794	1,927	2,178
Not seeking nursing employment	458	384	631	425	445	507	552	536
On leave
On leave	1,056	1,417	1,336	1,422	1,758	2,199	2,215	2,299
Total	46,888	48,748	50,710	53,593	54,922	55,862	57,624	59,462

NP

Employment Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Employed in nursing only
In Ontario	2,505	2,704	2,866	3,107	3,268	3,445	3,691	3,921
In and outside Ontario	39	52	62	58	77	94	116	144
Outside Ontario	38	46	61	77	90	119	135	142
Employed in nursing & non-nursing
In Ontario	113	108	125	127	136	156	150	164
In and outside Ontario	0	3	1	2	2	3	3	6
Outside Ontario	3	4	0	2	8	2	6	13
Employed in non-nursing only
Seeking nursing employment	3	4	7	4	4	4	1	6
Not seeking nursing employment	0	3	7	5	5	4	5	5
Not employed
Seeking nursing employment	42	55	61	67	65	57	65	62
Not seeking nursing employment	16	15	31	20	36	36	41	35
On leave
On leave	63	89	85	100	128	115	139	144
Total	2,822	3,083	3,306	3,569	3,819	4,035	4,352	4,642

RN

Employment Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Employed in nursing only
In Ontario	89.0%	88.1%	88.3%	88.5%	87.7%	86.5%	86.1%	85.0%
In and outside Ontario	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.8%	1.1%
Outside Ontario	1.3%	1.7%	1.9%	1.9%	2.0%	2.1%	2.4%	2.9%
Employed in nursing & non-nursing
In Ontario	2.5%	2.4%	2.4%	2.5%	2.5%	3.2%	2.8%	2.7%
In and outside Ontario	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Outside Ontario	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Employed in non-nursing only
Seeking nursing employment	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%
Not seeking nursing employment	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%
Not employed
Seeking nursing employment	2.1%	2.1%	2.0%	2.1%	2.1%	2.1%	2.3%	2.5%
Not seeking nursing employment	1.6%	1.7%	1.8%	1.4%	1.4%	1.6%	1.7%	1.7%
On leave
On leave	2.0%	2.6%	2.1%	2.1%	2.7%	3.1%	3.1%	3.2%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

RPN

Employment Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Employed in nursing only
In Ontario	84.1%	83.7%	84.4%	84.2%	84.6%	82.5%	84.5%	84.3%
In and outside Ontario	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.3%
Outside Ontario	0.7%	0.9%	0.9%	0.8%	0.8%	0.9%	1.0%	1.1%
Employed in nursing & non-nursing
In Ontario	4.3%	4.5%	4.7%	4.7%	4.7%	6.6%	4.5%	4.1%
In and outside Ontario	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Outside Ontario	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Employed in non-nursing only
Seeking nursing employment	2.5%	2.4%	1.9%	2.2%	1.9%	1.4%	1.1%	1.2%
Not seeking nursing employment	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.5%
Not employed
Seeking nursing employment	4.6%	4.2%	3.7%	4.0%	3.4%	3.2%	3.3%	3.7%
Not seeking nursing employment	1.0%	0.8%	1.2%	0.8%	0.8%	0.9%	1.0%	0.9%
On leave
On leave	2.3%	2.9%	2.6%	2.7%	3.2%	3.9%	3.8%	3.9%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

NP

Employment Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Employed in nursing only
In Ontario	88.8%	87.7%	86.7%	87.1%	85.6%	85.4%	84.8%	84.5%
In and outside Ontario	1.4%	1.7%	1.9%	1.6%	2.0%	2.3%	2.7%	3.1%
Outside Ontario	1.3%	1.5%	1.8%	2.2%	2.4%	2.9%	3.1%	3.1%
Employed in nursing & non-nursing
In Ontario	4.0%	3.5%	3.8%	3.6%	3.6%	3.9%	3.4%	3.5%
In and outside Ontario	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Outside Ontario	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%	0.3%
Employed in non-nursing only
Seeking nursing employment	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%
Not seeking nursing employment	0.0%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Not employed
Seeking nursing employment	1.5%	1.8%	1.8%	1.9%	1.7%	1.4%	1.5%	1.3%
Not seeking nursing employment	0.6%	0.5%	0.9%	0.6%	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%	0.8%
On leave
On leave	2.2%	2.9%	2.6%	2.8%	3.4%	2.9%	3.2%	3.1%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

For both RNs and NPs, the proportion of nurses employed in nursing in Ontario only has decreased since 2016, going from 89% to 85% of RNs and 88.8% to 84.5% of NPs. Although these downward trends began going back to at least 2016, they appear to have been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. For NPs, the decrease in nurses practicing in Ontario only is somewhat offset by the increase in those reporting employment in and outside of Ontario. The proportion of RPNs reporting employment in Ontario only has remained relatively stable since 2016, with a dip in 2021 that subsequently rebounded the following year.

Concurrently, an increase in the proportion of registrants employed in nursing outside of Ontario only has been observed across all nurse types. The proportion of all RNs, RPNs and NPs in the General and Extended Classes who reported being employed in nursing outside of the province only increased by 45%, 37.5%, and 29.2% respectively from 2020 to 2023. While these trends began prior to 2020, They appear to have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic and numbers have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Moreover, the proportion of nurses on leave also grew in the same period, jumping from 2.1% and 2.7% in 2019, for RNs and RPNs respectively, to 3.2% and 3.9% in 2023. Like nurses employed outside Ontario, those reporting being on leave have not dropped back down to 2019 levels and have instead maintained their share or grown.

Together, while the total number of registrants reporting nursing employment in Ontario has grown each year across all nurse types, increases in both those reporting employment outside of the province only and going on leave have grown since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, tempering further gains to the nursing workforce.

5.3 Employed in nursing in Ontario

Note: For the remainder of the Registrations section, “In Ontario” includes registrants who reported employment only in Ontario and registrants who reported employment in and outside Ontario.

5.3.1 Graph

This bar chart shows the number of General and Extended Class registrations that were renewed in each year where the registrant was employed in nursing in Ontario. The horizontal axis shows the renewal years from 2016 to 2023. The vertical axis shows the number of registrations. Additionally, each bar has three portions representing the categorizations: RN, RPN, and NP.

5.3.2 Counts

Nurse Type	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
RN	96,004	95,350	96,142	97,890	98,326	99,245	100,230	102,140
RPN	41,506	43,100	45,250	47,744	49,098	49,822	51,414	52,755
NP	2,657	2,867	3,054	3,294	3,483	3,698	3,960	4,235
Total	140,167	141,317	144,446	148,928	150,907	152,765	155,604	159,130

5.3.3 Proportions

Nurse Type	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
RN	68.5%	67.5%	66.6%	65.7%	65.2%	65.0%	64.4%	64.2%
RPN	29.6%	30.5%	31.3%	32.1%	32.5%	32.6%	33.0%	33.2%
NP	1.9%	2.0%	2.1%	2.2%	2.3%	2.4%	2.5%	2.7%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Overall, the number of registrations reporting nursing employment in Ontario has increased by 13.5% during the past eight years and 2.3% from 2022 to 2023. Similarly to total renewals, the number of RPNs and NPs reporting employment in Ontario since 2016 is growing at a faster rate than that of RNs, leading to a gradual shift in the makeup of Ontario’s nursing workforce.

5.4 Overall Working Status

Overall working status is calculated based on the highest working status among all nursing positions held in Ontario for a given registration. The three examples below illustrate how overall working status is derived:

Example 1: If a nurse holds both a casual nursing position and a full-time nursing position associated with a single registration, the overall working status is full-time.
Example 2: If a nurse holds three casual nursing positions associated with a single registration, the overall working status is casual.
Example 3: If a nurse holds one part-time nursing position and one full-time non-nursing position associated with a single registration, the overall working status is part-time.

Please use the drop-down menu below to filter by nurse type.

RN

Overall Working Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Full-time employment	63,803	63,381	64,024	65,796	66,453	68,578	70,747	72,099
Part-time employment	25,265	25,214	25,389	25,373	25,245	24,413	22,608	21,739
Casual employment	6,936	6,752	6,729	6,721	6,628	6,254	6,875	8,302
Total	96,004	95,347	96,142	97,890	98,326	99,245	100,230	102,140

RPN

Overall Working Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Full-time employment	22,493	23,258	24,426	26,174	27,405	29,536	31,876	33,646
Part-time employment	15,085	15,709	16,513	17,245	17,301	16,477	15,760	14,773
Casual employment	3,928	4,132	4,311	4,325	4,392	3,809	3,778	4,336
Total	41,506	43,099	45,250	47,744	49,098	49,822	51,414	52,755

NP

Overall Working Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Full-time employment	2,138	2,215	2,363	2,514	2,646	2,813	2,996	3,238
Part-time employment	458	561	584	663	715	743	808	814
Casual employment	61	91	107	117	122	142	156	183
Total	2,657	2,867	3,054	3,294	3,483	3,698	3,960	4,235

RN

Overall Working Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Full-time employment	66.5%	66.5%	66.6%	67.2%	67.6%	69.1%	70.6%	70.6%
Part-time employment	26.3%	26.4%	26.4%	25.9%	25.7%	24.6%	22.6%	21.3%
Casual employment	7.2%	7.1%	7.0%	6.9%	6.7%	6.3%	6.9%	8.1%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

RPN

Overall Working Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Full-time employment	54.2%	54.0%	54.0%	54.8%	55.8%	59.3%	62.0%	63.8%
Part-time employment	36.3%	36.4%	36.5%	36.1%	35.2%	33.1%	30.7%	28.0%
Casual employment	9.5%	9.6%	9.5%	9.1%	8.9%	7.6%	7.3%	8.2%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

NP

Overall Working Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Full-time employment	80.5%	77.3%	77.4%	76.3%	76.0%	76.1%	75.7%	76.5%
Part-time employment	17.2%	19.6%	19.1%	20.1%	20.5%	20.1%	20.4%	19.2%
Casual employment	2.3%	3.2%	3.5%	3.6%	3.5%	3.8%	3.9%	4.3%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Since 2018, there has been an increasing trend in the proportion of RNs and RPNs whose overall working status is full-time, coupled with a decrease in those with part-time employment, with the share increasing most rapidly in 2021. The RPN group that saw the greatest increase, going from 55.8% to 59.3% in one year. The share of NPs reporting overall full-time employment has remained stable over the same time and was at its highest level in 2016 at 80.5%. Those reporting overall casual employment make up less than 10% of all nurses and account for 8.1% of RNs, 8.2% of RPNs and 4.3% of NPs.

5.5 Number of nursing positions held and working status

Please use the drop-down menu below to filter by nurse type.

RN

Number of positions held and working status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
One nursing employment position
Full-time	55,031	54,604	55,006	56,301	56,860	58,726	59,439	60,953
Part-time	20,130	19,818	19,788	19,750	19,584	19,378	17,381	16,699
Casual	6,201	6,107	5,998	5,982	5,883	5,633	6,096	7,296
Not stated	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
One nursing employment position subtotal	81,362	80,532	80,792	82,033	82,327	83,737	82,916	84,948
Two nursing employment positions
Both full-time	270	222	365	399	395	464	537	535
Full-time and part-time	1,881	1,868	1,854	1,927	1,966	2,053	2,268	2,050
Full-time and casual	5,489	5,450	5,546	5,892	5,912	5,963	6,758	6,743
Both part-time	1,717	1,864	1,944	1,870	1,853	1,622	1,562	1,444
Part-time and casual	2,585	2,695	2,818	2,887	2,896	2,612	2,697	2,689
Both casual	830	759	814	814	827	687	884	1,150
Two nursing employment positions subtotal	12,772	12,858	13,341	13,789	13,849	13,401	14,706	14,611
Three or more nursing employment positions
Overall full-time (at least one full-time position)	920	994	1,024	1,048	1,093	1,177	1,487	1,415
Overall part-time (highest working status is part-time, no full-time positions)	807	820	831	862	900	777	945	900
Overall casual (all positions are casual)	143	146	154	158	157	153	176	266
Three or more nursing employment positions subtotal	1,870	1,960	2,009	2,068	2,150	2,107	2,608	2,581
Total	96,004	95,350	96,142	97,890	98,326	99,245	100,230	102,140

RPN

Number of positions held and working status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
One nursing employment position
Full-time	18,974	19,661	20,474	21,813	22,816	25,220	26,242	27,961
Part-time	11,050	11,384	11,903	12,455	12,600	13,199	11,998	11,317
Casual	3,270	3,466	3,550	3,545	3,625	3,345	3,190	3,620
Not stated	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
One nursing employment position subtotal	33,294	34,512	35,927	37,813	39,041	41,764	41,430	42,898
Two nursing employment positions
Both full-time	149	148	261	278	319	353	419	430
Full-time and part-time	1,209	1,260	1,262	1,347	1,397	1,228	1,519	1,386
Full-time and casual	1,840	1,839	1,984	2,230	2,330	2,198	2,960	3,110
Both part-time	1,512	1,665	1,708	1,724	1,651	1,234	1,365	1,171
Part-time and casual	1,952	2,086	2,209	2,338	2,346	1,607	1,889	1,814
Both casual	585	592	673	709	680	422	524	646
Two nursing employment positions subtotal	7,247	7,590	8,097	8,626	8,723	7,042	8,676	8,557
Three or more nursing employment positions
Overall full-time (at least one full-time position)	306	331	423	482	518	522	698	716
Overall part-time (highest working status is part-time, no full-time positions)	570	567	693	722	699	431	508	468
Overall casual (all positions are casual)	89	100	110	101	117	63	102	116
Three or more nursing employment positions subtotal	965	998	1,226	1,305	1,334	1,016	1,308	1,300
Total	41,506	43,100	45,250	47,744	49,098	49,822	51,414	52,755

NP

Number of positions held and working status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
One nursing employment position
Full-time	1,634	1,680	1,779	1,878	1,953	2,073	2,148	2,308
Part-time	283	339	335	389	420	445	473	442
Casual	50	72	95	99	111	133	146	185
One nursing employment position subtotal	1,967	2,091	2,209	2,366	2,484	2,651	2,767	2,935
Two nursing employment positions
Both full-time	4	12	27	25	23	27	32	40
Full-time and part-time	127	133	121	127	138	144	145	148
Full-time and casual	286	303	322	350	376	385	445	472
Both part-time	78	87	98	100	106	113	128	131
Part-time and casual	61	83	82	85	98	98	119	141
Both casual	11	21	19	23	22	24	32	43
Two nursing employment positions subtotal	567	639	669	710	763	791	901	975
Three or more nursing employment positions
Overall full-time (at least one full-time position)	82	77	98	122	139	155	183	221
Overall part-time (highest working status is part-time, no full-time positions)	36	55	74	86	91	93	95	93
Overall casual (all positions are casual)	5	5	4	10	6	8	14	11
Three or more nursing employment positions subtotal	123	137	176	218	236	256	292	325
Total	2,657	2,867	3,054	3,294	3,483	3,698	3,960	4,235

RN

Number of positions held and working status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
One nursing employment position
Full-time	57.3%	57.3%	57.2%	57.5%	57.8%	59.2%	59.3%	59.7%
Part-time	21.0%	20.8%	20.6%	20.2%	19.9%	19.5%	17.3%	16.3%
Casual	6.5%	6.4%	6.2%	6.1%	6.0%	5.7%	6.1%	7.1%
Not stated	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
One nursing employment position subtotal	84.7%	84.5%	84.0%	83.8%	83.7%	84.4%	82.7%	83.2%
Two nursing employment positions
Both full-time	0.3%	0.2%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%
Full-time and part-time	2.0%	2.0%	1.9%	2.0%	2.0%	2.1%	2.3%	2.0%
Full-time and casual	5.7%	5.7%	5.8%	6.0%	6.0%	6.0%	6.7%	6.6%
Both part-time	1.8%	2.0%	2.0%	1.9%	1.9%	1.6%	1.6%	1.4%
Part-time and casual	2.7%	2.8%	2.9%	2.9%	2.9%	2.6%	2.7%	2.6%
Both casual	0.9%	0.8%	0.8%	0.8%	0.8%	0.7%	0.9%	1.1%
Two nursing employment positions subtotal	13.3%	13.5%	13.9%	14.1%	14.1%	13.5%	14.7%	14.3%
Three or more nursing employment positions
Overall full-time (at least one full-time position)	1.0%	1.0%	1.1%	1.1%	1.1%	1.2%	1.5%	1.4%
Overall part-time (highest working status is part-time, no full-time positions)	0.8%	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%	0.8%	0.9%	0.9%
Overall casual (all positions are casual)	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%
Three or more nursing employment positions subtotal	1.9%	2.1%	2.1%	2.1%	2.2%	2.1%	2.6%	2.5%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

RPN

Number of positions held and working status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
One nursing employment position
Full-time	45.7%	45.6%	45.2%	45.7%	46.5%	50.6%	51.0%	53.0%
Part-time	26.6%	26.4%	26.3%	26.1%	25.7%	26.5%	23.3%	21.5%
Casual	7.9%	8.0%	7.8%	7.4%	7.4%	6.7%	6.2%	6.9%
Not stated	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
One nursing employment position subtotal	80.2%	80.1%	79.4%	79.2%	79.5%	83.8%	80.6%	81.3%
Two nursing employment positions
Both full-time	0.4%	0.3%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.7%	0.8%	0.8%
Full-time and part-time	2.9%	2.9%	2.8%	2.8%	2.8%	2.5%	3.0%	2.6%
Full-time and casual	4.4%	4.3%	4.4%	4.7%	4.7%	4.4%	5.8%	5.9%
Both part-time	3.6%	3.9%	3.8%	3.6%	3.4%	2.5%	2.7%	2.2%
Part-time and casual	4.7%	4.8%	4.9%	4.9%	4.8%	3.2%	3.7%	3.4%
Both casual	1.4%	1.4%	1.5%	1.5%	1.4%	0.8%	1.0%	1.2%
Two nursing employment positions subtotal	17.5%	17.6%	17.9%	18.1%	17.8%	14.1%	16.9%	16.2%
Three or more nursing employment positions
Overall full-time (at least one full-time position)	0.7%	0.8%	0.9%	1.0%	1.1%	1.0%	1.4%	1.4%
Overall part-time (highest working status is part-time, no full-time positions)	1.4%	1.3%	1.5%	1.5%	1.4%	0.9%	1.0%	0.9%
Overall casual (all positions are casual)	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%
Three or more nursing employment positions subtotal	2.3%	2.3%	2.7%	2.7%	2.7%	2.0%	2.5%	2.5%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

NP

Number of positions held and working status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
One nursing employment position
Full-time	61.5%	58.6%	58.3%	57.0%	56.1%	56.1%	54.2%	54.5%
Part-time	10.7%	11.8%	11.0%	11.8%	12.1%	12.0%	11.9%	10.4%
Casual	1.9%	2.5%	3.1%	3.0%	3.2%	3.6%	3.7%	4.4%
One nursing employment position subtotal	74.0%	72.9%	72.3%	71.8%	71.3%	71.7%	69.9%	69.3%
Two nursing employment positions
Both full-time	0.2%	0.4%	0.9%	0.8%	0.7%	0.7%	0.8%	0.9%
Full-time and part-time	4.8%	4.6%	4.0%	3.9%	4.0%	3.9%	3.7%	3.5%
Full-time and casual	10.8%	10.6%	10.5%	10.6%	10.8%	10.4%	11.2%	11.1%
Both part-time	2.9%	3.0%	3.2%	3.0%	3.0%	3.1%	3.2%	3.1%
Part-time and casual	2.3%	2.9%	2.7%	2.6%	2.8%	2.7%	3.0%	3.3%
Both casual	0.4%	0.7%	0.6%	0.7%	0.6%	0.6%	0.8%	1.0%
Two nursing employment positions subtotal	21.3%	22.3%	21.9%	21.6%	21.9%	21.4%	22.8%	23.0%
Three or more nursing employment positions
Overall full-time (at least one full-time position)	3.1%	2.7%	3.2%	3.7%	4.0%	4.2%	4.6%	5.2%
Overall part-time (highest working status is part-time, no full-time positions)	1.4%	1.9%	2.4%	2.6%	2.6%	2.5%	2.4%	2.2%
Overall casual (all positions are casual)	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%	0.4%	0.3%
Three or more nursing employment positions subtotal	4.6%	4.8%	5.8%	6.6%	6.8%	6.9%	7.4%	7.7%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Overall, the vast majority of registrations held only one nursing employment position. In 2023, over 50% of nurses reported working in one full-time nursing position across all nurse types. Since 2021, there has been a decrease in the number and proportion of RNs and RPNs working in one part-time position, accompanied by an increase in those employed in a single full-time position. Specifically, there has been a 14.7% and 10.2% decrease in the number of RNs and RPNs reporting only one part-time nursing positions, respectively from 2020 to 2023. Similarly to employment status, these trends appear to be shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, NPs have seen a decrease in the proportion of registrations with either a single full-time or single part-time position, while those reporting one casual position have increased since 2020.

6 Employment positions held in Ontario

This section presents data at the level of employment positions held. Only nursing positions in Ontario are included. Since registrants can hold multiple positions, the number of positions is greater than the total number of registrations categorized as employed in nursing in Ontario.

6.1 Working Status for Employment Positions

Working status for employment positions (full-time, part-time, or casual) is a statistic that provides information about the working status of each nursing employment position held by registrants. Unlike overall working status, it does not aggregate working status to the registration level, but instead reports it at the position level. For example, for an RN holding two part-time positions, both positions would be counted under “Part-time employment”.

Please use the drop-down menu below to filter by nurse type.

RN

Overall Working Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Full-time employment	63,901	63,405	64,247	66,075	66,710	68,965	71,167	72,371
Part-time employment	29,861	29,907	30,206	30,221	30,197	29,149	27,643	26,450
Casual employment	19,050	19,115	19,376	19,886	19,973	19,127	21,837	23,592
Not specified	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	112,812	112,430	113,829	116,182	116,880	117,241	120,647	122,413

RPN

Overall Working Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Full-time employment	22,643	23,414	24,729	26,498	27,798	29,977	32,385	34,179
Part-time employment	18,387	19,210	20,201	21,047	21,095	19,535	19,406	18,012
Casual employment	9,775	10,193	11,055	11,628	11,779	9,512	11,117	11,955
Not specified	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	50,805	52,820	55,985	59,173	60,672	59,024	62,908	64,146

NP

Working Status for Employment Positions	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Full-time employment	2,141	2,219	2,382	2,532	2,666	2,825	3,007	3,247
Part-time employment	734	877	945	1,055	1,138	1,188	1,282	1,323
Casual employment	626	717	794	908	989	1,053	1,238	1,392
Total	3,501	3,813	4,121	4,495	4,793	5,066	5,527	5,962

RN

Overall Working Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Full-time employment	56.6%	56.4%	56.4%	56.9%	57.1%	58.8%	59.0%	59.1%
Part-time employment	26.5%	26.6%	26.5%	26.0%	25.8%	24.9%	22.9%	21.6%
Casual employment	16.9%	17.0%	17.0%	17.1%	17.1%	16.3%	18.1%	19.3%
Not specified	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

RPN

Overall Working Status	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Full-time employment	44.6%	44.3%	44.2%	44.8%	45.8%	50.8%	51.5%	53.3%
Part-time employment	36.2%	36.4%	36.1%	35.6%	34.8%	33.1%	30.8%	28.1%
Casual employment	19.2%	19.3%	19.7%	19.7%	19.4%	16.1%	17.7%	18.6%
Not specified	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

NP

Working Status for Employment Positions	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Full-time employment	61.2%	58.2%	57.8%	56.3%	55.6%	55.8%	54.4%	54.5%
Part-time employment	21.0%	23.0%	22.9%	23.5%	23.7%	23.5%	23.2%	22.2%
Casual employment	17.9%	18.8%	19.3%	20.2%	20.6%	20.8%	22.4%	23.3%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

During the last three years, both RNs and RPNs have seen steady growth in the number of full-time and casual positions held, while also experiencing a year-over-year decrease in part-time employment positions held, starting in 2020. For RNs and NPs, casual employment positions had the largest increases in 2023, whereas full-time positions saw the greatest gains for RPNs. Overall, RNs had the highest proportion of reported full-time jobs of all nurse types, at 59.1% of all positions held in 2023. The share of full-time positions reported by NPs has fallen over time, from 61.2% to 54.5% of all positions held, while full-time jobs for RPNs have increased from 44.6% to 53.3% of all positions held.

6.2 Employment Setting

Please use the drop-down menu below to filter by nurse type.

RN

Employment Setting	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Hospital
Acute Care Hospital	60,853	60,823	61,883	63,577	64,265	65,170	65,283	66,233
Addiction & Mental Health Centre/Psychiatric Hospital	3,151	3,154	3,161	3,220	3,296	3,243	3,148	3,247
Complex Continuing Care Hospital	1,731	1,671	1,554	1,603	1,554	1,508	1,470	1,524
Rehabilitation Hospital	1,548	1,562	1,570	1,719	1,826	1,759	1,765	1,816
Other Hospital (describe)	1,561	1,545	1,559	1,588	1,594	1,542	1,721	1,779
Hospital Subtotal	68,844	68,755	69,727	71,707	72,535	73,222	73,387	74,599
Community
Blood Transfusion Centre	84	82	66	70	55	59	55	59
Cancer Centre	618	640	781	799	804	782	817	864
Children Treatment Centre (CTC)	72	60	65	60	60	59	66	66
Client Environment	455	443	524	503	481	441	363	348
Community Care Access Centre (CCAC)	4,202	4,244	4,204	4,194	4,219	5	—	—
Community Health Centre (CHC)	1,231	1,225	1,100	1,154	1,188	1,213	1,356	1,257
Community Mental Health Program	664	640	694	682	684	679	701	760
Diabetes Education Centre (DEC)	202	194	223	214	214	198	211	195
Family Health Team (FHT)	1,174	1,136	1,132	1,156	1,098	1,060	1,058	1,075
Hospice	488	542	589	630	654	654	726	763
Home and Community Care Support Services	—	—	—	—	—	4,889	4,736	5,864
Nurse Practitioner Led Clinic	59	55	53	75	64	70	79	96
Nursing/Staffing Agency	2,361	2,255	2,246	2,083	2,091	1,762	1,885	1,743
Physician Office	2,598	2,541	2,456	2,328	2,247	2,040	1,934	1,952
Public Health Unit/Department	4,026	3,937	3,918	3,862	3,712	5,160	6,827	5,684
Remote Nursing Station	283	312	373	372	365	391	464	435
Other Community (describe)	4,031	4,055	4,363	4,489	4,385	3,509	4,127	3,481
Community Subtotal	22,548	22,361	22,787	22,671	22,321	22,971	25,405	24,642
Long-Term Care
Long-Term Care Facility	9,345	9,278	9,253	9,453	9,611	8,485	8,376	9,124
Retirement Home	563	527	457	447	455	399	427	427
Other Long-Term Care Facility (describe)	233	239	222	199	191	199	182	219
Long-Term Care Subtotal	10,141	10,044	9,932	10,099	10,257	9,083	8,985	9,770
Other
College/University	4,199	4,203	4,285	4,382	4,301	4,125	4,351	4,405
Correctional Facility	720	755	772	842	843	874	900	925
Government/Association/Regulatory Body/Union	1,448	1,412	1,436	1,495	1,517	1,552	1,600	1,718
Health-Related Business/Industry	1,877	1,851	1,838	1,879	1,839	1,847	2,107	2,242
Industry (Not Health-Related)	396	368	349	336	311	308	307	307
School	446	442	420	431	416	418	439	431
Spa	86	88	116	178	208	250	332	406
Telephone Health Advisory Services	245	222	227	234	233	353	408	312
Other (describe)	1,862	1,929	1,869	1,844	1,795	2,202	2,380	2,633
Not stated	0	0	71	85	304	36	46	23
Other Subtotal	11,279	11,270	11,312	11,621	11,463	11,929	12,824	13,379
Total	112,812	112,430	113,829	116,183	116,880	117,241	120,647	122,413

RPN

Employment Setting	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Hospital
Acute Care Hospital	11,245	11,811	12,740	13,606	14,303	15,491	16,641	17,322
Addiction & Mental Health Centre/Psychiatric Hospital	2,262	2,236	2,298	2,422	2,435	2,437	2,483	2,562
Complex Continuing Care Hospital	2,500	2,446	2,387	2,503	2,468	2,413	2,429	2,410
Rehabilitation Hospital	1,495	1,574	1,645	1,796	1,918	2,028	2,167	2,317
Other Hospital (describe)	929	875	972	995	1,050	1,060	1,308	1,377
Hospital Subtotal	18,431	18,942	20,042	21,322	22,174	23,429	25,028	25,988
Community
Blood Transfusion Centre	8	7	5	6	4	2	5	4
Cancer Centre	25	29	30	43	29	38	62	61
Children Treatment Centre (CTC)	24	35	31	33	30	36	29	36
Client Environment	383	487	607	655	619	455	403	330
Community Care Access Centre (CCAC)	862	984	1,075	1,177	1,097	0	0	0
Community Health Centre (CHC)	714	767	794	804	885	961	1,057	854
Community Mental Health Program	320	329	349	357	372	356	410	465
Diabetes Education Centre (DEC)	17	21	18	25	11	16	17	13
Family Health Team (FHT)	559	592	681	737	769	775	746	782
Hospice	271	286	328	377	407	406	437	476
Home and Community Care Support Services	0	0	0	0	0	2,033	1,884	3,529
Nurse Practitioner Led Clinic	37	44	39	43	48	56	53	67
Nursing/Staffing Agency	2,287	2,347	2,551	2,638	2,675	2,105	2,251	1,771
Physician Office	1,607	1,713	1,877	1,986	2,081	1,852	1,830	1,921
Public Health Unit/Department	223	237	253	246	254	381	1,385	941
Remote Nursing Station	25	14	30	33	32	61	145	89
Other Community (describe)	2,773	3,149	3,523	3,836	3,961	2,912	3,170	2,328
Community Subtotal	10,135	11,041	12,191	12,996	13,274	12,445	13,884	13,667
Long-Term Care
Long-Term Care Facility	15,451	15,518	15,910	16,513	16,420	14,945	14,915	15,614
Retirement Home	3,884	4,235	4,486	4,771	4,924	4,350	4,121	4,090
Other Long-Term Care Facility (describe)	341	362	315	345	354	360	376	384
Long-Term Care Subtotal	19,676	20,115	20,711	21,629	21,698	19,655	19,412	20,088
Other
College/University	524	584	664	675	690	712	828	881
Correctional Facility	89	83	95	105	108	113	120	141
Government/Association/Regulatory Body/Union	81	100	103	104	118	109	132	136
Health-Related Business/Industry	652	687	741	793	772	765	1,012	981
Industry (Not Health-Related)	85	77	87	88	105	126	158	155
School	344	321	354	404	402	323	317	379
Spa	61	77	125	154	197	249	300	375
Telephone Health Advisory Services	19	21	25	21	26	39	184	51
Other (describe)	708	772	794	813	912	1,034	1,500	1,284
Not stated	0	0	53	69	196	25	33	20
Other Subtotal	2,563	2,722	2,988	3,157	3,330	3,470	4,551	4,383
Total	50,805	52,820	55,985	59,173	60,672	59,024	62,908	64,146

NP

Employment Setting	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Hospital
Acute Care Hospital	1,122	1,231	1,288	1,389	1,459	1,507	1,607	1,661
Addiction & Mental Health Centre/Psychiatric Hospital	39	41	53	58	65	69	92	104
Complex Continuing Care Hospital	21	19	22	27	27	27	32	37
Rehabilitation Hospital	25	28	25	35	35	44	49	46
Other Hospital (describe)	70	75	88	82	77	76	85	104
Hospital Subtotal	1,277	1,394	1,476	1,591	1,663	1,723	1,865	1,952
Community
Cancer Centre	17	17	27	29	31	32	26	35
Children Treatment Centre (CTC)	2	3	1	4	4	3	4	2
Client Environment	1	2	3	5	8	6	4	5
Community Care Access Centre (CCAC)	116	123	123	116	128	—	—	—
Community Health Centre (CHC)	479	470	488	523	528	550	571	584
Community Mental Health Program	18	19	26	30	40	40	42	63
Diabetes Education Centre (DEC)	4	3	6	5	7	5	7	5
Family Health Team (FHT)	558	574	584	629	655	679	693	723
Hospice	4	4	3	6	5	10	6	4
Home and Community Care Support Services	—	—	—	—	—	152	153	145
Nurse Practitioner Led Clinic	133	131	144	159	162	186	205	225
Nursing/Staffing Agency	8	7	8	10	8	9	16	18
Physician Office	141	175	212	253	250	264	326	389
Public Health Unit/Department	61	64	61	56	48	66	95	75
Remote Nursing Station	59	67	74	60	62	59	61	62
Other Community (describe)	153	197	251	283	325	328	372	411
Community Subtotal	1,754	1,856	2,011	2,168	2,261	2,389	2,581	2,746
Long-Term Care
Long-Term Care Facility	96	125	164	161	159	178	189	208
Retirement Home	14	14	18	16	18	22	19	32
Other Long-Term Care Facility (describe)	4	9	4	5	12	10	9	5
Long-Term Care Subtotal	114	148	186	182	189	210	217	245
Other
College/University	222	248	260	271	278	272	300	326
Correctional Facility	9	13	11	16	19	24	26	22
Government/Association/Regulatory Body/Union	24	24	31	35	39	44	41	49
Health-Related Business/Industry	32	39	46	82	99	106	134	156
Industry (Not Health-Related)	8	7	8	6	7	8	7	13
School	7	6	5	5	4	14	11	19
Spa	8	18	22	26	33	45	64	91
Telephone Health Advisory Services	1	1	3	15	12	47	57	82
Other (describe)	45	59	61	95	114	184	224	261
Not stated	0	0	1	3	75	0	0	0
Other Subtotal	356	415	447	551	605	744	864	1,019
Total	3,501	3,813	4,121	4,495	4,793	5,066	5,527	5,962

RN

Employment Setting	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Hospital
Acute Care Hospital	53.9%	54.1%	54.4%	54.7%	55.0%	55.6%	54.1%	54.1%
Addiction & Mental Health Centre/Psychiatric Hospital	2.8%	2.8%	2.8%	2.8%	2.8%	2.8%	2.6%	2.7%
Complex Continuing Care Hospital	1.5%	1.5%	1.4%	1.4%	1.3%	1.3%	1.2%	1.2%
Rehabilitation Hospital	1.4%	1.4%	1.4%	1.5%	1.6%	1.5%	1.5%	1.5%
Other Hospital (describe)	1.4%	1.4%	1.4%	1.4%	1.4%	1.3%	1.4%	1.5%
Hospital Subtotal	61.0%	61.2%	61.3%	61.8%	62.2%	62.5%	60.9%	61.0%
Community
Blood Transfusion Centre	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
Cancer Centre	0.5%	0.6%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%
Children Treatment Centre (CTC)	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Client Environment	0.4%	0.4%	0.5%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%
Community Care Access Centre (CCAC)	3.7%	3.8%	3.7%	3.6%	3.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Community Health Centre (CHC)	1.1%	1.1%	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	1.1%	1.0%
Community Mental Health Program	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%
Diabetes Education Centre (DEC)	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%
Family Health Team (FHT)	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%
Hospice	0.4%	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%
Home and Community Care Support Services	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	4.2%	3.9%	4.8%
Nurse Practitioner Led Clinic	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Nursing/Staffing Agency	2.1%	2.0%	2.0%	1.8%	1.8%	1.5%	1.6%	1.4%
Physician Office	2.3%	2.3%	2.2%	2.0%	1.9%	1.7%	1.6%	1.6%
Public Health Unit/Department	3.6%	3.5%	3.4%	3.3%	3.2%	4.4%	5.7%	4.6%
Remote Nursing Station	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%
Other Community (describe)	3.6%	3.6%	3.8%	3.9%	3.8%	3.0%	3.4%	2.8%
Community Subtotal	20.0%	19.9%	20.0%	19.5%	19.1%	19.6%	21.1%	20.1%
Long-Term Care
Long-Term Care Facility	8.3%	8.3%	8.1%	8.1%	8.2%	7.2%	6.9%	7.5%
Retirement Home	0.5%	0.5%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.4%	0.3%
Other Long-Term Care Facility (describe)	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%
Long-Term Care Subtotal	9.0%	8.9%	8.7%	8.7%	8.8%	7.7%	7.5%	8.0%
Other
College/University	3.7%	3.7%	3.8%	3.8%	3.7%	3.5%	3.6%	3.6%
Correctional Facility	0.6%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.8%
Government/Association/Regulatory Body/Union	1.3%	1.3%	1.3%	1.3%	1.3%	1.3%	1.3%	1.4%
Health-Related Business/Industry	1.7%	1.6%	1.6%	1.6%	1.6%	1.6%	1.7%	1.8%
Industry (Not Health-Related)	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%
School	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%
Spa	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.3%
Telephone Health Advisory Services	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%
Other (describe)	1.7%	1.7%	1.6%	1.6%	1.5%	1.9%	2.0%	2.2%
Not stated	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Other Subtotal	10.0%	10.0%	9.9%	10.0%	9.8%	10.2%	10.6%	10.9%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

RPN

Employment Setting	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Hospital
Acute Care Hospital	22.1%	22.4%	22.8%	23.0%	23.6%	26.2%	26.5%	27.0%
Addiction & Mental Health Centre/Psychiatric Hospital	4.5%	4.2%	4.1%	4.1%	4.0%	4.1%	3.9%	4.0%
Complex Continuing Care Hospital	4.9%	4.6%	4.3%	4.2%	4.1%	4.1%	3.9%	3.8%
Rehabilitation Hospital	2.9%	3.0%	2.9%	3.0%	3.2%	3.4%	3.4%	3.6%
Other Hospital (describe)	1.8%	1.7%	1.7%	1.7%	1.7%	1.8%	2.1%	2.1%
Hospital Subtotal	36.3%	35.9%	35.8%	36.1%	36.7%	39.7%	39.8%	40.5%
Community
Blood Transfusion Centre	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Cancer Centre	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Children Treatment Centre (CTC)	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%
Client Environment	0.8%	0.9%	1.1%	1.1%	1.0%	0.8%	0.6%	0.5%
Community Care Access Centre (CCAC)	1.7%	1.9%	1.9%	2.0%	1.8%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Community Health Centre (CHC)	1.4%	1.5%	1.4%	1.4%	1.5%	1.6%	1.7%	1.3%
Community Mental Health Program	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.7%	0.7%
Diabetes Education Centre (DEC)	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Family Health Team (FHT)	1.1%	1.1%	1.2%	1.2%	1.3%	1.3%	1.2%	1.2%
Hospice	0.5%	0.5%	0.6%	0.6%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%
Home and Community Care Support Services	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	3.4%	3.0%	5.5%
Nurse Practitioner Led Clinic	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Nursing/Staffing Agency	4.5%	4.4%	4.6%	4.5%	4.4%	3.6%	3.6%	2.8%
Physician Office	3.2%	3.2%	3.4%	3.4%	3.4%	3.1%	2.9%	3.0%
Public Health Unit/Department	0.4%	0.4%	0.5%	0.4%	0.4%	0.6%	2.2%	1.5%
Remote Nursing Station	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%
Other Community (describe)	5.5%	6.0%	6.3%	6.5%	6.5%	4.9%	5.0%	3.6%
Community Subtotal	19.9%	20.9%	21.8%	22.0%	21.9%	21.1%	22.1%	21.3%
Long-Term Care
Long-Term Care Facility	30.4%	29.4%	28.4%	27.9%	27.1%	25.3%	23.7%	24.3%
Retirement Home	7.6%	8.0%	8.0%	8.1%	8.1%	7.4%	6.6%	6.4%
Other Long-Term Care Facility (describe)	0.7%	0.7%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%
Long-Term Care Subtotal	38.7%	38.1%	37.0%	36.6%	35.9%	33.3%	30.9%	31.3%
Other
College/University	1.0%	1.1%	1.2%	1.1%	1.1%	1.2%	1.3%	1.4%
Correctional Facility	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%
Government/Association/Regulatory Body/Union	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%
Health-Related Business/Industry	1.3%	1.3%	1.3%	1.3%	1.3%	1.3%	1.6%	1.5%
Industry (Not Health-Related)	0.2%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%
School	0.7%	0.6%	0.6%	0.7%	0.7%	0.5%	0.5%	0.6%
Spa	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.5%	0.6%
Telephone Health Advisory Services	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.3%	0.1%
Other (describe)	1.4%	1.5%	1.4%	1.4%	1.5%	1.8%	2.4%	2.0%
Not stated	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%
Other Subtotal	5.0%	5.2%	5.3%	5.3%	5.5%	5.9%	7.2%	6.8%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

NP

Employment Setting	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Hospital
Acute Care Hospital	32.0%	32.3%	31.3%	30.9%	30.4%	29.7%	29.1%	27.9%
Addiction & Mental Health Centre/Psychiatric Hospital	1.1%	1.1%	1.3%	1.3%	1.4%	1.4%	1.7%	1.7%
Complex Continuing Care Hospital	0.6%	0.5%	0.5%	0.6%	0.6%	0.5%	0.6%	0.6%
Rehabilitation Hospital	0.7%	0.7%	0.6%	0.8%	0.7%	0.9%	0.9%	0.8%
Other Hospital (describe)	2.0%	2.0%	2.1%	1.8%	1.6%	1.5%	1.5%	1.7%
Hospital Subtotal	36.5%	36.6%	35.8%	35.4%	35.2%	34.0%	33.7%	32.7%
Community
Cancer Centre	0.5%	0.4%	0.7%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.5%	0.6%
Children Treatment Centre (CTC)	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%
Client Environment	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Community Care Access Centre (CCAC)	3.3%	3.2%	3.0%	2.6%	2.7%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Community Health Centre (CHC)	13.7%	12.3%	11.8%	11.6%	11.0%	10.9%	10.3%	9.8%
Community Mental Health Program	0.5%	0.5%	0.6%	0.7%	0.8%	0.8%	0.8%	1.1%
Diabetes Education Centre (DEC)	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Family Health Team (FHT)	15.9%	15.1%	14.2%	14.0%	13.7%	13.4%	12.5%	12.1%
Hospice	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%
Home and Community Care Support Services	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	3.0%	2.8%	2.4%
Nurse Practitioner Led Clinic	3.8%	3.4%	3.5%	3.5%	3.4%	3.7%	3.7%	3.8%
Nursing/Staffing Agency	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.3%
Physician Office	4.0%	4.6%	5.1%	5.6%	5.2%	5.2%	5.9%	6.5%
Public Health Unit/Department	1.7%	1.7%	1.5%	1.2%	1.0%	1.3%	1.7%	1.3%
Remote Nursing Station	1.7%	1.8%	1.8%	1.3%	1.3%	1.2%	1.1%	1.0%
Other Community (describe)	4.4%	5.2%	6.1%	6.3%	6.8%	6.5%	6.7%	6.9%
Community Subtotal	50.1%	48.7%	48.8%	48.3%	47.9%	47.2%	46.7%	46.1%
Long-Term Care
Long-Term Care Facility	2.7%	3.3%	4.0%	3.6%	3.3%	3.5%	3.4%	3.5%
Retirement Home	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.5%
Other Long-Term Care Facility (describe)	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%
Long-Term Care Subtotal	3.3%	3.9%	4.5%	4.1%	4.0%	4.1%	3.9%	4.1%
Other
College/University	6.3%	6.5%	6.3%	6.0%	5.8%	5.4%	5.4%	5.5%
Correctional Facility	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%	0.5%	0.5%	0.4%
Government/Association/Regulatory Body/Union	0.7%	0.6%	0.8%	0.8%	0.8%	0.9%	0.7%	0.8%
Health-Related Business/Industry	0.9%	1.0%	1.1%	1.8%	2.1%	2.1%	2.4%	2.6%
Industry (Not Health-Related)	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%	0.2%
School	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.3%	0.2%	0.3%
Spa	0.2%	0.5%	0.5%	0.6%	0.7%	0.9%	1.2%	1.5%
Telephone Health Advisory Services	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.3%	0.3%	0.9%	1.0%	1.4%
Other (describe)	1.3%	1.5%	1.5%	2.1%	2.4%	3.6%	4.1%	4.4%
Not stated	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	1.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Other Subtotal	10.2%	10.9%	10.8%	12.3%	12.8%	14.7%	15.6%	17.1%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Note: Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN) replaced Community Care Access Centres in 2021. They are now referred to as Home and Community Care Support Services

Acute care hospitals continue to be the largest employer of nurses in Ontario, accounting for over 54% of held RN positions and 27% of held RPN and NP positions. While they have been the largest employer of RN and NP positions since at least 2016, it was not until 2021 that the proportion of RPN positions held in acute care hospitals surpassed the share held in Long-Term Care facilities. As a proportion, acute care hospitals have accounted for 53% to 55% of all RN positions held since 2016, while the share of NPs reporting employment in the setting has decreased in the same period, going from 32% of all positions held in 2016 to 27.9% of them in 2023.

The total number of positions held in the Long-Term Care sector fell in 2021 and 2022 for both RNs and RPNs. Numbers partially rebounded in 2023, but not back to 2020 levels. As a proportion, Long-Term Care positions held made up 31.3% and 8% of all RPN and RN positions, respectively, down from respective pre-pandemic levels of more than 35.9% and 8.8%. From 2022 to 2023, Home and Community Care Support Services had significant increases in the number of positions held by RNs and RPNs, 23.8% and 87.3% respectively, and which reflect the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s plans to expand home care services.⁸

Since 2017, there has been a consistent decreasing trend in the proportion of NP positions held in Acute Care Hospitals, Community Health Centres and Family Health Teams. However, the actual number of positions reported in those settings has grown during the same period, reflecting the proliferation of the number of NPs and NP positions, which almost doubled from 3,501 positions held in 2016 to 5,962 in 2023.

6.3 Employment Position

Please use the drop-down menu below to filter by nurse type.

RN

Employment Position	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Advanced Practice Nurse - CNS	453	445	468	463	467	494	502	538
Advanced Practice Nurse - Other	322	363	351	344	355	350	372	388
Case Manager	4,333	4,287	4,307	4,387	4,328	4,349	4,215	4,247
Clinical Educator	2,310	2,347	2,413	2,479	2,514	2,396	2,540	2,707
Consultant	1,228	1,171	1,168	1,206	1,151	1,155	1,087	1,177
Educator/Faculty	3,120	3,081	3,082	3,101	3,053	2,962	3,189	3,152
Infection Control Nurse	325	325	302	285	282	435	526	572
Informatics Analyst	281	298	292	317	314	354	328	333
Middle Manager	3,786	3,839	3,700	3,721	3,749	3,728	3,800	3,924
Occupational Health Nurse	826	751	772	755	733	778	810	813
Office Nurse	2,389	2,328	2,155	2,160	2,003	1,944	1,860	1,962
Other (please specify)	8,056	7,923	8,287	8,592	8,502	8,628	9,383	10,161
Outpost Nurse	282	276	304	309	291	288	307	310
Policy Analyst	57	51	51	58	62	53	70	76
Public Health Nurse	3,289	3,257	3,248	3,237	3,177	4,396	5,509	4,705
Researcher	428	372	375	411	372	365	378	400
Sales/Marketing Representative	109	114	117	110	105	94	81	84
Senior Manager	1,794	1,813	1,865	1,948	1,934	1,927	2,080	2,053
Staff Nurse	75,793	75,812	76,883	78,808	79,973	79,464	80,689	81,837
Visiting Nurse	3,304	3,266	3,182	3,082	2,970	2,811	2,614	2,720
Volunteer	327	311	279	285	263	225	225	221
Not stated	0	0	228	125	282	45	82	33
Total	112,812	112,430	113,829	116,183	116,880	117,241	120,647	122,413

RPN

Employment Position	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Advanced Practice Nurse - Other	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Case Manager	377	414	470	487	523	536	620	665
Clinical Educator	333	386	438	452	458	469	499	564
Consultant	94	89	106	115	112	126	136	165
Educator/Faculty	392	415	398	435	455	449	550	555
Infection Control Nurse	32	33	34	35	36	100	213	257
Informatics Analyst	61	75	74	93	101	100	96	109
Middle Manager	528	557	603	666	702	704	758	814
Occupational Health Nurse	136	160	162	184	184	242	277	301
Office Nurse	1,620	1,695	1,703	1,941	1,920	1,935	1,948	2,007
Other (please specify)	5,162	5,517	5,592	5,800	5,921	5,709	6,123	6,261
Outpost Nurse	26	26	43	52	34	31	63	64
Policy Analyst	2	1	5	4	4	5	5	6
Public Health Nurse	156	173	203	223	236	286	1,023	698
Researcher	32	34	34	37	29	36	31	34
Sales/Marketing Representative	34	20	32	29	37	28	30	33
Senior Manager	265	281	322	320	370	380	441	470
Staff Nurse	37,654	38,783	41,152	43,441	44,652	43,700	46,151	47,148
Visiting Nurse	3,812	4,066	4,396	4,670	4,647	4,092	3,820	3,907
Volunteer	89	95	76	77	63	72	68	66
Not stated	0	0	142	112	188	24	56	21
Total	50,805	52,820	55,985	59,173	60,672	59,024	62,908	64,146

NP

Employment Position	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Advanced Practice Nurse - CNS	15	16	11	9	10	15	10	14
Advanced Practice Nurse - Other	24	17	18	12	18	20	18	12
Case Manager	12	7	12	9	11	12	15	12
Clinical Educator	42	53	56	47	54	69	63	71
Consultant	16	27	22	26	38	38	39	43
Educator/Faculty	161	187	179	204	205	194	221	223
Infection Control Nurse	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	1
Informatics Analyst	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Middle Manager	29	28	22	19	26	29	35	36
Nurse Practitioner (NP)	2,746	2,973	3,274	3,583	3,786	4,093	4,486	4,976
Occupational Health Nurse	7	3	9	4	3	3	6	1
Office Nurse	3	4	5	4	10	5	8	6
Other (please specify)	90	82	92	106	117	127	126	125
Outpost Nurse	27	21	21	21	16	11	6	10
Policy Analyst	0	0	2	1	2	1	3	1
Public Health Nurse	15	15	14	13	11	23	35	29
Researcher	8	10	8	6	6	9	10	11
Sales/Marketing Representative	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	1
Senior Manager	16	19	18	20	15	12	20	23
Staff Nurse	281	335	341	395	378	391	408	357
Visiting Nurse	7	14	9	9	9	8	9	4
Volunteer	2	1	1	4	4	3	4	5
Not stated	0	0	6	3	74	2	1	1
Total	3,501	3,813	4,121	4,495	4,793	5,066	5,527	5,962

RN

Employment Position	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Advanced Practice Nurse - CNS	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%
Advanced Practice Nurse - Other	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%
Case Manager	3.8%	3.8%	3.8%	3.8%	3.7%	3.7%	3.5%	3.5%
Clinical Educator	2.0%	2.1%	2.1%	2.1%	2.2%	2.0%	2.1%	2.2%
Consultant	1.1%	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	0.9%	1.0%
Educator/Faculty	2.8%	2.7%	2.7%	2.7%	2.6%	2.5%	2.6%	2.6%
Infection Control Nurse	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%	0.4%	0.4%	0.5%
Informatics Analyst	0.2%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%
Middle Manager	3.4%	3.4%	3.3%	3.2%	3.2%	3.2%	3.1%	3.2%
Occupational Health Nurse	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.6%	0.6%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%
Office Nurse	2.1%	2.1%	1.9%	1.9%	1.7%	1.7%	1.5%	1.6%
Other (please specify)	7.1%	7.0%	7.3%	7.4%	7.3%	7.4%	7.8%	8.3%
Outpost Nurse	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.3%
Policy Analyst	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%
Public Health Nurse	2.9%	2.9%	2.9%	2.8%	2.7%	3.7%	4.6%	3.8%
Researcher	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%
Sales/Marketing Representative	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Senior Manager	1.6%	1.6%	1.6%	1.7%	1.7%	1.6%	1.7%	1.7%
Staff Nurse	67.2%	67.4%	67.5%	67.8%	68.4%	67.8%	66.9%	66.9%
Visiting Nurse	2.9%	2.9%	2.8%	2.7%	2.5%	2.4%	2.2%	2.2%
Volunteer	0.3%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%
Not stated	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%	0.1%	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

RPN

Employment Position	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Case Manager	0.7%	0.8%	0.8%	0.8%	0.9%	0.9%	1.0%	1.0%
Clinical Educator	0.7%	0.7%	0.8%	0.8%	0.8%	0.8%	0.8%	0.9%
Consultant	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%
Educator/Faculty	0.8%	0.8%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.8%	0.9%	0.9%
Infection Control Nurse	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.3%	0.4%
Informatics Analyst	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%
Middle Manager	1.0%	1.1%	1.1%	1.1%	1.2%	1.2%	1.2%	1.3%
Occupational Health Nurse	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%	0.5%
Office Nurse	3.2%	3.2%	3.0%	3.3%	3.2%	3.3%	3.1%	3.1%
Other (please specify)	10.2%	10.4%	10.0%	9.8%	9.8%	9.7%	9.7%	9.8%
Outpost Nurse	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Policy Analyst	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Public Health Nurse	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.5%	1.6%	1.1%
Researcher	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%
Sales/Marketing Representative	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
Senior Manager	0.5%	0.5%	0.6%	0.5%	0.6%	0.6%	0.7%	0.7%
Staff Nurse	74.1%	73.4%	73.5%	73.4%	73.6%	74.0%	73.4%	73.5%
Visiting Nurse	7.5%	7.7%	7.9%	7.9%	7.7%	6.9%	6.1%	6.1%
Volunteer	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Not stated	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%	0.2%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%
Advanced Practice Nurse - Other	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

NP

Employment Position	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Advanced Practice Nurse - CNS	0.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%
Advanced Practice Nurse - Other	0.7%	0.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.2%
Case Manager	0.3%	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%
Clinical Educator	1.2%	1.4%	1.4%	1.0%	1.1%	1.4%	1.1%	1.2%
Consultant	0.5%	0.7%	0.5%	0.6%	0.8%	0.8%	0.7%	0.7%
Educator/Faculty	4.6%	4.9%	4.3%	4.5%	4.3%	3.8%	4.0%	3.7%
Infection Control Nurse	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%
Informatics Analyst	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Middle Manager	0.8%	0.7%	0.5%	0.4%	0.5%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%
Nurse Practitioner (NP)	78.4%	78.0%	79.4%	79.7%	79.0%	80.8%	81.2%	83.5%
Occupational Health Nurse	0.2%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%
Office Nurse	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Other (please specify)	2.6%	2.2%	2.2%	2.4%	2.4%	2.5%	2.3%	2.1%
Outpost Nurse	0.8%	0.6%	0.5%	0.5%	0.3%	0.2%	0.1%	0.2%
Policy Analyst	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%
Public Health Nurse	0.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%	0.2%	0.5%	0.6%	0.5%
Researcher	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%
Sales/Marketing Representative	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Senior Manager	0.5%	0.5%	0.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.2%	0.4%	0.4%
Staff Nurse	8.0%	8.8%	8.3%	8.8%	7.9%	7.7%	7.4%	6.0%
Visiting Nurse	0.2%	0.4%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%
Volunteer	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Not stated	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	1.5%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

The proportion of staff nursing positions held has stayed relatively stable over time and accounts for the majority of all reported jobs, making up close to 74% of all held RPN positions and 67% of all held RN positions between 2016 and 2023. Nurse Practitioner positions have steadily risen for NPs over the same period, rising from 78.4% to 83.5% of all held positions, while the share of held staff nurse positions has decreased, indicating NPs increasingly are finding employment where they can practice to their full scope.

The number of positions held in public health by all nurse types increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, peaking in 2022. Across nurse types, RPNs had the largest relative increase, more than tripling from 286 positions held in 2021 to 1,023 in 2022, though RNs reported the most positions held with 3,177 in 2020 and 5,509 in 2022. The number of public health positions held has since declined in 2023, by 14.6% and 31.8% for RNs and RPNs respectively.

6.4 Area of Practice

Please use the drop-down menu below to filter by nurse type.

RN

Area of Practice	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Acute Care	10,129	10,553	10,184	10,838	11,090	11,540	11,662	11,933
Administration	2,521	2,374	2,466	2,458	2,449	2,395	2,487	2,548
Cancer Care	2,661	2,744	2,845	2,906	2,958	2,950	3,016	3,127
Cardiac Care	2,922	2,947	2,946	3,087	3,072	2,968	2,856	2,989
Case Management	3,816	3,816	3,980	4,045	4,098	4,202	4,161	4,078
Chronic Disease Prevention/Management	994	1,027	1,001	1,034	1,014	961	970	1,053
Complex Continuing Care	2,311	2,162	2,194	2,188	2,180	2,071	1,989	2,022
Critical Care	7,655	7,671	8,168	8,447	8,607	8,768	9,218	9,393
Diabetes Care	764	759	744	731	733	695	700	705
Education	3,480	3,458	3,650	3,629	3,568	3,504	3,677	3,792
Emergency	7,481	7,481	7,687	7,824	7,879	8,012	7,975	8,164
Foot Care	453	416	430	404	366	342	315	316
Geriatrics	9,828	9,723	9,624	9,808	9,938	8,869	8,610	9,232
Infection Prevention/Control	483	487	462	469	443	908	1,226	1,014
Informatics	455	467	467	487	466	500	481	526
Maternal/Newborn	6,155	6,157	6,195	6,304	6,233	6,268	6,216	6,319
Medicine	5,854	5,881	6,270	6,405	6,522	6,521	6,127	6,181
Mental Health/Psychiatric/Addiction	6,911	6,909	7,057	7,233	7,394	7,309	7,251	7,534
Nephrology	2,469	2,519	2,618	2,761	2,815	2,783	2,815	2,938
Occupational Health	1,042	961	952	927	911	1,001	1,036	1,055
Other	10,524	10,342	9,863	9,893	9,780	9,618	10,501	10,691
Palliative Care	2,144	2,119	2,139	2,314	2,284	2,233	2,188	2,275
Perioperative Care	4,777	4,754	4,887	4,994	5,004	5,061	5,294	5,553
Policy	159	145	153	167	141	164	183	229
Primary Care	4,348	4,295	4,506	4,457	4,442	4,318	4,342	4,460
Public Health	3,907	3,850	3,779	3,802	3,717	4,869	6,817	5,724
Rehabilitation	2,002	2,072	1,945	2,066	2,148	1,962	1,948	2,032
Sales	90	79	79	92	98	79	72	80
Surgery	6,095	5,905	5,928	5,882	5,886	5,846	5,793	5,927
Telehealth Services	382	357	350	353	348	492	649	496
Not stated	0	0	260	178	296	32	72	27
Total	112,812	112,430	113,829	116,183	116,880	117,241	120,647	122,413

RPN

Area of Practice	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Acute Care	3,211	3,532	3,720	4,002	4,278	4,423	4,769	4,967
Administration	536	518	560	593	650	661	681	773
Cancer Care	179	179	194	204	228	185	231	289
Cardiac Care	205	226	232	278	315	302	330	326
Case Management	345	409	497	507	522	550	571	680
Chronic Disease Prevention/Management	385	447	488	498	526	514	527	555
Complex Continuing Care	3,637	3,673	3,861	4,071	4,049	3,905	3,754	3,794
Critical Care	42	43	48	45	43	40	53	69
Diabetes Care	113	106	132	148	123	116	117	125
Education	577	638	711	755	760	728	812	895
Emergency	615	647	681	722	750	849	982	1,257
Foot Care	805	885	928	952	870	858	831	903
Geriatrics	17,651	18,043	18,602	19,500	19,668	17,746	17,420	17,733
Infection Prevention/Control	92	86	58	80	66	266	681	496
Informatics	118	115	121	130	151	138	134	148
Maternal/Newborn	725	735	767	779	792	803	871	923
Medicine	3,082	3,283	3,823	4,138	4,358	4,440	4,759	5,149
Mental Health/Psychiatric/Addiction	3,483	3,521	3,641	3,882	3,961	3,993	4,122	4,237
Nephrology	373	386	435	468	512	546	577	604
Occupational Health	134	153	175	202	202	269	334	354
Other	4,243	4,404	4,442	4,676	4,778	4,780	5,655	5,559
Palliative Care	1,405	1,472	1,553	1,632	1,725	1,636	1,650	1,642
Perioperative Care	737	826	897	1,017	1,038	1,000	1,102	1,147
Policy	19	12	21	18	20	11	15	18
Primary Care	3,534	3,790	4,349	4,566	4,766	4,613	4,536	4,846
Public Health	567	586	618	641	667	806	2,000	1,362
Rehabilitation	2,029	2,083	2,140	2,302	2,336	2,329	2,475	2,541
Sales	42	42	52	42	71	48	53	63
Surgery	1,854	1,898	1,959	2,020	2,108	2,261	2,326	2,509
Telehealth Services	67	82	87	123	149	166	495	158
Not stated	0	0	193	182	190	42	45	24
Total	50,805	52,820	55,985	59,173	60,672	59,024	62,908	64,146

NP

Area of Practice	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Acute Care	222	251	277	294	322	341	372	432
Administration	32	22	20	25	34	35	30	38
Cancer Care	71	80	100	104	128	122	126	134
Cardiac Care	127	127	141	139	152	150	158	179
Case Management	11	10	11	17	16	17	20	17
Chronic Disease Prevention/Management	73	78	90	91	105	108	115	121
Complex Continuing Care	40	43	49	41	43	58	56	69
Critical Care	73	84	97	98	106	91	113	102
Diabetes Care	38	43	38	47	43	36	42	39
Education	153	166	177	181	205	179	206	227
Emergency	171	179	165	183	156	172	177	182
Foot Care	0	0	1	3	1	5	1	1
Geriatrics	215	258	280	296	297	328	361	369
Infection Prevention/Control	2	4	4	2	2	11	17	12
Informatics	3	2	1	2	2	3	2	3
Maternal/Newborn	50	57	49	63	58	58	64	70
Medicine	64	61	70	78	106	98	95	112
Mental Health/Psychiatric/Addiction	71	95	107	138	160	179	226	296
Nephrology	37	42	47	54	50	55	68	67
Occupational Health	11	14	21	20	19	24	27	26
Other	292	315	365	414	418	481	553	557
Palliative Care	101	107	110	126	136	149	149	139
Perioperative Care	15	13	12	14	20	18	15	14
Policy	5	5	4	1	5	4	2	3
Primary Care	1,512	1,616	1,729	1,882	1,944	2,080	2,219	2,426
Public Health	38	42	46	39	36	55	93	63
Rehabilitation	23	32	30	42	38	36	43	42
Sales	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Surgery	50	65	63	67	77	82	80	90
Telehealth Services	1	2	9	27	42	86	97	132
Not stated	0	0	8	7	72	4	0	0
Total	3,501	3,813	4,121	4,495	4,793	5,066	5,527	5,962

RN

Area of Practice	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Acute Care	9.0%	9.4%	8.9%	9.3%	9.5%	9.8%	9.7%	9.7%
Administration	2.2%	2.1%	2.2%	2.1%	2.1%	2.0%	2.1%	2.1%
Cancer Care	2.4%	2.4%	2.5%	2.5%	2.5%	2.5%	2.5%	2.6%
Cardiac Care	2.6%	2.6%	2.6%	2.7%	2.6%	2.5%	2.4%	2.4%
Case Management	3.4%	3.4%	3.5%	3.5%	3.5%	3.6%	3.4%	3.3%
Chronic Disease Prevention/Management	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%	0.8%	0.8%	0.9%
Complex Continuing Care	2.0%	1.9%	1.9%	1.9%	1.9%	1.8%	1.6%	1.7%
Critical Care	6.8%	6.8%	7.2%	7.3%	7.4%	7.5%	7.6%	7.7%
Diabetes Care	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%
Education	3.1%	3.1%	3.2%	3.1%	3.1%	3.0%	3.0%	3.1%
Emergency	6.6%	6.7%	6.8%	6.7%	6.7%	6.8%	6.6%	6.7%
Foot Care	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%
Geriatrics	8.7%	8.6%	8.5%	8.4%	8.5%	7.6%	7.1%	7.5%
Infection Prevention/Control	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.8%	1.0%	0.8%
Informatics	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%
Maternal/Newborn	5.5%	5.5%	5.4%	5.4%	5.3%	5.3%	5.2%	5.2%
Medicine	5.2%	5.2%	5.5%	5.5%	5.6%	5.6%	5.1%	5.0%
Mental Health/Psychiatric/Addiction	6.1%	6.1%	6.2%	6.2%	6.3%	6.2%	6.0%	6.2%
Nephrology	2.2%	2.2%	2.3%	2.4%	2.4%	2.4%	2.3%	2.4%
Occupational Health	0.9%	0.9%	0.8%	0.8%	0.8%	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%
Other	9.3%	9.2%	8.7%	8.5%	8.4%	8.2%	8.7%	8.7%
Palliative Care	1.9%	1.9%	1.9%	2.0%	2.0%	1.9%	1.8%	1.9%
Perioperative Care	4.2%	4.2%	4.3%	4.3%	4.3%	4.3%	4.4%	4.5%
Policy	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%
Primary Care	3.9%	3.8%	4.0%	3.8%	3.8%	3.7%	3.6%	3.6%
Public Health	3.5%	3.4%	3.3%	3.3%	3.2%	4.2%	5.7%	4.7%
Rehabilitation	1.8%	1.8%	1.7%	1.8%	1.8%	1.7%	1.6%	1.7%
Sales	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Surgery	5.4%	5.3%	5.2%	5.1%	5.0%	5.0%	4.8%	4.8%
Telehealth Services	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.5%	0.4%
Not stated	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

RPN

Area of Practice	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Acute Care	6.3%	6.7%	6.6%	6.8%	7.1%	7.5%	7.6%	7.7%
Administration	1.1%	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	1.1%	1.1%	1.1%	1.2%
Cancer Care	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.3%	0.4%	0.5%
Cardiac Care	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%
Case Management	0.7%	0.8%	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%	1.1%
Chronic Disease Prevention/Management	0.8%	0.8%	0.9%	0.8%	0.9%	0.9%	0.8%	0.9%
Complex Continuing Care	7.2%	7.0%	6.9%	6.9%	6.7%	6.6%	6.0%	5.9%
Critical Care	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Diabetes Care	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%
Education	1.1%	1.2%	1.3%	1.3%	1.3%	1.2%	1.3%	1.4%
Emergency	1.2%	1.2%	1.2%	1.2%	1.2%	1.4%	1.6%	2.0%
Foot Care	1.6%	1.7%	1.7%	1.6%	1.4%	1.5%	1.3%	1.4%
Geriatrics	34.7%	34.2%	33.2%	33.0%	32.4%	30.1%	27.7%	27.6%
Infection Prevention/Control	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.5%	1.1%	0.8%
Informatics	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%
Maternal/Newborn	1.4%	1.4%	1.4%	1.3%	1.3%	1.4%	1.4%	1.4%
Medicine	6.1%	6.2%	6.8%	7.0%	7.2%	7.5%	7.6%	8.0%
Mental Health/Psychiatric/Addiction	6.9%	6.7%	6.5%	6.6%	6.5%	6.8%	6.6%	6.6%
Nephrology	0.7%	0.7%	0.8%	0.8%	0.8%	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%
Occupational Health	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.5%	0.5%	0.6%
Other	8.4%	8.3%	7.9%	7.9%	7.9%	8.1%	9.0%	8.7%
Palliative Care	2.8%	2.8%	2.8%	2.8%	2.8%	2.8%	2.6%	2.6%
Perioperative Care	1.5%	1.6%	1.6%	1.7%	1.7%	1.7%	1.8%	1.8%
Policy	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Primary Care	7.0%	7.2%	7.8%	7.7%	7.9%	7.8%	7.2%	7.6%
Public Health	1.1%	1.1%	1.1%	1.1%	1.1%	1.4%	3.2%	2.1%
Rehabilitation	4.0%	3.9%	3.8%	3.9%	3.9%	3.9%	3.9%	4.0%
Sales	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Surgery	3.6%	3.6%	3.5%	3.4%	3.5%	3.8%	3.7%	3.9%
Telehealth Services	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.8%	0.2%
Not stated	0.0%	0.0%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

NP

Area of Practice	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Acute Care	6.3%	6.6%	6.7%	6.5%	6.7%	6.7%	6.7%	7.2%
Administration	0.9%	0.6%	0.5%	0.6%	0.7%	0.7%	0.5%	0.6%
Cancer Care	2.0%	2.1%	2.4%	2.3%	2.7%	2.4%	2.3%	2.2%
Cardiac Care	3.6%	3.3%	3.4%	3.1%	3.2%	3.0%	2.9%	3.0%
Case Management	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.3%
Chronic Disease Prevention/Management	2.1%	2.0%	2.2%	2.0%	2.2%	2.1%	2.1%	2.0%
Complex Continuing Care	1.1%	1.1%	1.2%	0.9%	0.9%	1.1%	1.0%	1.2%
Critical Care	2.1%	2.2%	2.4%	2.2%	2.2%	1.8%	2.0%	1.7%
Diabetes Care	1.1%	1.1%	0.9%	1.0%	0.9%	0.7%	0.8%	0.7%
Education	4.4%	4.4%	4.3%	4.0%	4.3%	3.5%	3.7%	3.8%
Emergency	4.9%	4.7%	4.0%	4.1%	3.3%	3.4%	3.2%	3.1%
Foot Care	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
Geriatrics	6.1%	6.8%	6.8%	6.6%	6.2%	6.5%	6.5%	6.2%
Infection Prevention/Control	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%
Informatics	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%
Maternal/Newborn	1.4%	1.5%	1.2%	1.4%	1.2%	1.1%	1.2%	1.2%
Medicine	1.8%	1.6%	1.7%	1.7%	2.2%	1.9%	1.7%	1.9%
Mental Health/Psychiatric/Addiction	2.0%	2.5%	2.6%	3.1%	3.3%	3.5%	4.1%	5.0%
Nephrology	1.1%	1.1%	1.1%	1.2%	1.0%	1.1%	1.2%	1.1%
Occupational Health	0.3%	0.4%	0.5%	0.4%	0.4%	0.5%	0.5%	0.4%
Other	8.3%	8.3%	8.9%	9.2%	8.7%	9.5%	10.0%	9.3%
Palliative Care	2.9%	2.8%	2.7%	2.8%	2.8%	2.9%	2.7%	2.3%
Perioperative Care	0.4%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.2%
Policy	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%
Primary Care	43.2%	42.4%	42.0%	41.9%	40.6%	41.1%	40.1%	40.7%
Public Health	1.1%	1.1%	1.1%	0.9%	0.8%	1.1%	1.7%	1.1%
Rehabilitation	0.7%	0.8%	0.7%	0.9%	0.8%	0.7%	0.8%	0.7%
Sales	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Surgery	1.4%	1.7%	1.5%	1.5%	1.6%	1.6%	1.4%	1.5%
Telehealth Services	0.0%	0.1%	0.2%	0.6%	0.9%	1.7%	1.8%	2.2%
Not stated	0.0%	0.0%	0.2%	0.2%	1.5%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

The areas of practice where nurses are employed look different across nurse types and have shifted over time. For RNs, acute care is the area of practice reporting the most positions held while critical care has seen significant growth over time. For both acute and critical care, the number of positions held have been increasing since 2016. The number of RPN positions held in acute care has also increased over time, growing from 3,211 positions held in 2016 to almost 5,000 in 2023. Similarly, the number of RPN positions held in primary care has increased over the last eight years, growing by more than 37% from 2016 to 2023. Across both RNs and RPNs, decreases in positions held are geriatrics is also reflected in the decrease in positions held in Long-Term Care. While NPs have seen a proportional decrease in the number of primary care positions held, the actual numbers have risen from 1,512 in 2016 to 2,426 in 2023. The number and proportion of positions held in mental health/psychiatry/addictions has also increased over the same period. Last, telehealth positions held jumped in 2021 for all nurses, this may be attributed to the expansion of telehealth services because of the COVID-19 pandemic.⁹ Those positions declined in 2023 for all nurses except NPs and most notably in RPNs.

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Registration Renewal Statistics Report 2023

College of Nurses of Ontario

August 09, 2023

1 Executive Summary

2 Introduction

3 Methods and Notes

3.1 Reporting and renewal period

3.2 Report structure

3.3 Nurse categories and classes

3.4 Other statistics

4 Registrants

4.1 Overall Renewals

4.1.1 Counts

General & Extended Classes

Non-Practising Class

4.1.2 Proportions

General & Extended Classes

Non-Practising Class

4.2 Gains and Losses

General & Extended Classes

Non-Practising Class

4.3 Age Distribution

4.3.1 Graphs

General & Extended Classes

Non-Practising Class

4.3.2 Counts

General & Extended Classes

Non-Practising Class

4.3.3 Proportions

General & Extended Classes

Non-Practising Class

4.4 Gender Distribution

4.4.1 Counts

General & Extended Classes

Non-Practising Class

4.4.2 Proportions

General & Extended Classes

Non-Practising Class

4.5 Employment Status

4.5.1 Counts

General & Extended Classes

Non-Practising Class

4.5.2 Proportions

General & Extended Classes

Non-Practising Class

5 Registrations

5.1 Overall Renewals

5.1.1 Graph

5.1.2 Counts

General & Extended Classes

Non-Practising Class

5.1.3 Proportions

General & Extended Classes

Non-Practising Class

5.2 Employment Status

5.2.1 Counts

RN

RPN

NP

5.2.2 Proportions

RN

RPN

NP

5.3 Employed in nursing in Ontario

5.3.1 Graph

5.3.2 Counts

5.3.3 Proportions

5.4 Overall Working Status

5.4.1 Graph

RN

RPN

NP

5.4.2 Counts

RN

RPN

NP

5.4.3 Proportions

RN

RPN

NP