Leveraging National Labour and Health Data for Strategic Health Workforce Planning: Insights From Canadian Case Studies Using Statistics Canada Data Sources

This article showcases the high-quality, standardized, and national labour force and health-related data that can be leveraged for effective health workforce planning. It also underscores the importance of interoperability, the ability to integrate and harmonize data from multiple sources to optimize health workforce analysis. Using three case studies drawing on five Statistics Canada data sources, it examines persistent shortages of nurses and personal support workers and the impact of increased workload on their stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article also outlines how Statistics Canada data can inform planning by identifying unmet labour demand, work-related stress, and untapped labour resources, such as internationally educated healthcare professionals. It aims to guide health leaders in accessing and leveraging Statistics Canada data, including but not limited to those outlined here, to strategically address workforce and policy challenges in the health sector using an evidence-based approach.