Human Resources Legislative Update
Ontario’s New Workforce Stabilization Strategy for Personal Support Workers
Date: April 30, 2014
On April 29, 2014, the Ontario government announced the launch of a new Workforce Stabilization Strategy (“Strategy”) intended to enhance job security of publicly-funded personal support workers (“PSWs”) who work in home and community care settings.
Specifically, this Strategy will involve, among other things:
- increasing the hourly PSW wage by $4.00 over the next three years;
- establishing a new base wage for PSWs that will increase alongside the hourly wage to $16.50/hour by April 1, 2016;
- new measures to reduce casual employment and increase permanent employment for PSWs, with on-the-job orientation programs for new graduates; and
- examining PSW recruitment and retention challenges, and the role of PSWs in the healthcare framework.
