Health Care Expected To Help Fuel Job Growth Yet New Nurses Having Difficulties Finding Jobs

Orlando Sentinel: "Thousands more health-care workers, from doctors to nurses to physical therapists, will be needed in the coming decade in Florida and across the country to treat the increasing number of older Americans - particularly the enormous baby boom generation. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care is expected to generate 3.2 million new jobs through 2018, more than any other industry and mainly because of the increasing number of elderly. In Florida alone, U.S. Census data shows, the population of persons 65 and older is projected to increase by nearly 82 percent through 2020 to 5.1 million. Add to that scenario the game-changing effects of federal health-care reform and the rapid evolution of medical technology in diagnosing and treating disease and it's easy to see why job-growth projections in health care are so robust" (Zaragoza, 9/12).

Still, Nurse.com offers a different perspective on immediate job prospects for nursing students: "Despite a widely held belief that nursing was a 'recession-proof' profession, new graduates in many areas of the country report difficulty finding jobs. Surveys by the National Student Nurses Association of 2009 and 2010 new graduates show more than 40% of respondents had not found a nursing job by midsummer. The American Hospital Association reports an RN vacancy rate of 4% in March, down from 11.4% in 2006. Some nursing school deans say their students are having a much more difficult time finding jobs than in the past. ... Analysts say most of the hiring slowdown is because of the economy, with older RNs deciding to stay in the workforce because their retirement funds have not recovered from a stock-market drop in 2008, or a spouse was laid off, or they are just nervous about the economy" (Domrose, 9/12).