Personal support workers and the labour market

Abstract

This chapter analyses the labour market for Personal Support Workers (PSWs). It focuses on Canada as an illustrative case. The literature suggests that, while it is helpful to consider the PSW labour market as a whole from a neo-Weberian perspective, it is better thought of as a series of sub-markets – comprising the hospital, long-term care, and home and community care sectors. These may differ in terms of such factors as wages, benefits, hours worked and working conditions, as well as in the socio-demographic characteristics of PSWs working in each care sector. To the extent that sectoral differences in PSW characteristics affect labour supply behaviours and outcomes – as, for example, in creating differences in the proportion of PSWs nearing retirement age – the heterogeneous nature of the PSW labour market is an important consideration in resource planning. The chapter also explores how PSWs compare to other health professions such as nursing, and makes select references to the international PSW literature in charting a forward course.