More nurses under age 35 leaving NL than anywhere else in Canada: report

A new economic note from an independent public policy think tank indicates Newfoundland and Labrador is losing its younger nurses at an alarming clip.

The study, prepared for the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) and released Thursday, Oct. 15, looks at recruitment and retention of nurses across Canada under age 35.

While it showed that 34 nurses under the age of 35 left the workforce for every 100 who entered the profession across Canada in 2024, that number spiked to a national worst of 61 in Newfoundland and Labrador that year.

According to the report, Newfoundland and Labrador also experienced the second-highest increase over the previous 10 years at 13 per cent, behind Ontario at 40 per cent.

The report noted that a nursing workforce research report commissioned by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and released in May 2023 might help explain the reasons behind the exodus.

The report, which also cited factors such as an aging population and increasing demands on health care, emphasized that nurses working in Newfoundland and Labrador are paid less than their counterparts in most other provinces, including all three Maritime provinces.

“Like any workers, nurses will tend to gravitate toward higher incomes, and in the absence of market pressures driving up wages in times of shortage, provincial governments must decide to allocate competitive wages to attract and retain them,” stated the report prepared by Gerard Lucyshyn, MEI’s vice-president of research and senior economist, in collaboration with MEI research intern Sam Bonnett and senior policy analyst Gabriel Giguère.

“The numbers show a troubling situation in Newfoundland and Labrador, with the province losing its young nurses fast,” Giguère said in a news release. “Long-term solutions to stressful working conditions must be found quickly.”

The report suggested that the 2026 edition of an annual survey conducted by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions can help shed some light on the likely causes for the numbers.

In that survey, 43 per cent of respondents reported having worked involuntary overtime in the past six months, while 71 per cent said their workplaces are regularly over capacity.

Nearly all respondents — 95 per cent of them — had experienced some sort of violence or harassment related to their job in the past year.

More than half — 53 per cent — showed signs of burnout, while 29 per cent met clinical thresholds for anxiety and 22 per cent for depression.

Nearly a quarter — 22 per cent — of nurses had worked shifts lasting 16 hours or longer in the past six months, and 99 per cent of them felt patient and nurse safety was put at risk by fatigue-related errors during these extended shifts.

“As a result of such factors, 21 per cent of working nurses are considering leaving their current job and another eight per cent are considering leaving the profession altogether — with an additional six per cent planning to retire,” stated the report.

Yvette Coffey, president of the Registered Nurses’ Union Newfoundland and Labrador, said nursing recruitment and retention are challenges across Canada and this report raises serious concerns for nursing in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Recruiting nurses is essential, but we must also create conditions that make nurses want to stay,” Coffey, who is attending health meetings with the national union and federal, provincial, and territorial ministers of health in Winnipeg this week, said in an email to The Telegram.

“That means safe staffing, better compensation, protection from workplace violence, and an end to mandatory overtime. Nurses need time to rest and recover, and the tools and support to provide the care they are trained to deliver. We must also retain the experienced nurses who provide care and help guide newer colleagues.”

The report offered up some solutions, including allowing nurses more flexibility by letting them work for travel nurse agencies, private clinics, or telehealth companies.

“This would allow them to better control their hours and maintain a better work-life balance,” the report suggested.

Some provinces, such as Quebec, have programs akin to what Coffey recommended, including pairing novice nurses with experienced nurses, which the report said can help younger nurses manage challenges.

British Columbia, which had the best recruitment and retention ratio of young nurses in the report, has job-swapping pools, which allow nurses to trade shifts without needing approval from administrators.

“Union contracts should also be renegotiated to reward skills and competence over seniority,” advised the report.

Across Canada, there were 27,139 nursing positions open in 2025. This is a drop from 2023, said the report, but remains roughly three times higher than in 2016.

While the data shows some improvement in the young nurse outflow/inflow ratio, the report stated more work remains to be done to keep young nurses from leaving the profession. The 10-year trendline for outflow/inflow is still increasing, and the number of nursing job vacancies remains high.

“Nurses are still suffering under harsh working conditions that make them leave in large numbers, undermining the quality of health care in Canada,” said the report.

“As the demand for health care increases, the loss of high numbers of trained nurses every year is unsustainable.”

In Newfoundland and Labrador, Coffey said the provincial government and NL Health Services must implement the recommendations of the core staffing review of the province’s health-care workforce and introduce safe hours legislation.

“These actions, alongside better compensation and stronger workplace violence prevention and support, are essential to retaining nurses and strengthening publicly funded, publicly delivered health care for everyone,” she said.

Postmedia has reached out to both the provincial health department and NL Health Services for comment on the report, but neither entity had responded as of publication.