Most of the nurses who will graduate in Alberta this year should be able to find jobs in the province, the chair of Alberta Health Services, Ken Hughes, told CBC News.

"We will be able to hire a fairly good percentage of the graduating class this year, not 100 per cent," Hughes said.

About 1,800 nurses graduate in the province each year, according to numbers obtained by CBC News.

The announcement comes two months after Alberta Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky announced the province had just hired 200 to 300 new nurses, thanks to money allocated in this year's budget to cover the board's $1.3-billion deficit.

The province announced in the 2010-11 budget that it would bump up Alberta Health Services' base funding by six per cent as well as cover the deficit.

Board chair Ken Hughes said the board has changed its funding from year to year to a five-year plan to create a more stable working environment for health-care workers, he said.

"Going from year to year, not knowing what your funding was the next year, created uncertainty for people in the system as to whether they had a future or not, and so we're able to get away from some of that instability," Hughes said.

Jane Sustrik, second vice-president of the United Nurses of Alberta, the province's largest nurses union, welcomed the hiring but expressed concern about the types of jobs to be created.

"Many of the positions that are available are either temporary positions or small part-time positions and that's not going to cut it to keep our new graduates here," Sustrik said.

"They need something a little bit more permanent and something with some substance to pay off the loans and get started."