Can someone please explain this to me? Out of curiosity I started searching for R.N jobs in ON and the wages and salaries really vary. But why? I see ridiculous job postings offering $17-$26/hr for an RN with a year or two of experience. Then there are postings for the same years of experience but offer $30-$40/hr.

Why the variety? I understand RNs at hospitals make more $ but these job postings that I saw are all non-hospitals. I searched physiotherapists, and their earnings are very consistent and do not vary like RNs.

Any ideas?

It depends on what the duties and responsibilities are for the position.
You can be in post-partum department, ER, etc.

I also looked into that. For example look at the duties of these two jobs, both of which vary quite a bit in their pay.

Job #1) $37.22 to $49.71 Hourly
Assess patients to identify appropriate nursing interventions, Collaborate to plan, implement, co-ordinate and evaluate patient care, Dispense and administer medications and treatments as prescribed by a physician, Monitor, assess, address, document and report symptoms and changes in patients' conditions, Provide nursing care, Supervise licensed practical nurses and other nursing staff

Job #2) $25.00 to $27.00 Hourly
Assess patients to identify appropriate nursing interventions, Collaborate to plan, implement, co-ordinate and evaluate patient care, Dispense and administer medications and treatments as prescribed by a physician, Monitor, assess, address, document and report symptoms and changes in patients' conditions, Provide nursing care, Plan, develop, implement, monitor and evaluate health education services, Develop curriculum for advanced education programs, Manage home care cases, Conduct disease screening, Supervise licensed practical nurses and other nursing staff


They sound very similar, at least for me, and the less paying job even seems to have more duties. I really don't understand. I haven't even started the program yet but I'm in a bit of a shock because I guess I never really cared much about the pay, but because of the schooling I really don't see how any nurse can make less than $30/hr unless if its a fresh grad.


Any current nursing students want to add to this?

Where is this position for? Is it a private company or publicly funded?
Are they unionized or non-unionized?

I can't speak from a nursing point of view, but I work for Petro-Canada lubricants (owned by Suncor energy) and similar postings happen with our company, except wages are only disclosed if you're an employee (ie not an external candidate)

The lower pay (often also posted as a contract or temp position) is for anyone not currently employed by the company.

Though people can apply for the higher pay one, they typically already have an internal candidate pre-determined for the position, but because of regulations and laws, they still need to post for it.

For example, I'm a temp right now (and had to interview to get the job) but the position is becoming full time.
I need to interview again (for the same position I'm doing) but for the full-time posting, but if an internal employee applies for it, they take precedence and I would continue on the lower paying contract position.

Hope that clears things up a little.

EDIT: I found this link to the Ontario Nurse Association through a quick google search
http://www.ona.org/faqs.html#f15
Seems that as an Ontario RN (working for a hospital and not privately) you're looking at a Starting wage of $30.17 ($58,831.50/year) and a max wage of $43.61 ($85,039.50/year) after 25 years of service.
Just look at their compensation chart for pay relative to years.
Again, this is if you're with a hospital (public funding) versus a privately funded RN