As a whole, the health care industry has been — and, more importantly for today’s nursing employment seekers, continues to be — one of the more impressively solid fields in our economy in terms of job creation.
Since the initiation of Obamacare in March 2010, health care employers added more than 1 million jobs to the U.S. labor market. Additionally, health care fields, depending on division, have remained relatively unaffected or have seen growth since the Great Recession (December 2007 to June 2009), according to data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Employment Statistics program.
The New York Times’ blog The Upshot displays a helpful collection of graphs (based on the bureau’s data) illustrating how specific health care sectors like specialty hospitals, residential mental and substance abuse care, outpatient mental health centers, psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals, and blood/organ banks and health care screenings actually recovered and grew since the Recession.
Bottom line: Jobs in health care have a proven track record of being recession-proof — basically, still one of your safest bets, Students.
But there’s this: While employment in home health, outpatient care centers and doctors’ offices is doing quite well, job growth at hospitals grew anemic in the past year. This could be due to the fact that care is now being delivered in multiple environments, thanks in part to a growing demand for in-home care as populations are living longer and longer.
Also interestingly, baby-boomer nurses who were expected to retire, creating job opportunities for new nurses, are retaining their positions for much longer than anticipated. The U.S. government had predicted a nursing shortage due to the anticipated deluge of retirements. But according to a study published in Health Affairs, there were 500,000 more registered nurses in the workforce than was projected twelve years earlier.
According to this Bloomberg story citing the Health Affairs study, nurses may be facing steep competition as baby-boomers delay retirement and nursing education programs pump out graduates, doubling their number since 2002.
However, the Affordable Care Act and a growing population, among other factors, should continue health care’s growth. But the search can still pose its own set of problems. Location can be one of those factors
That’s where De Vore healthcare recruiting can help. We pride ourselves on matching top candidates with the right healthcare employer for him/her. Let us help guide you through the process. Contact us for more information at 877-411-4358.
