The January jobs report from the Labor Department, released earlier this month, created a certain amount of breathlessness on the part of those paid to watch employment trends. The takeaway: Hiring is hot.
That’s certainly true in healthcare, where employment increased by 70,000 jobs in January. The biggest gains were in ambulatory healthcare services, up 33,000 positions, and hospitals, up 20,000, according to the department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Related: Labor shortages force hospitals to rethink recruitment
Monthly revisions will tweak those numbers up and down, but in healthcare the hiring has largely been lofty for months. In fact, a research brief from Altarum Institute said 2023’s healthcare job growth was historic, with healthcare accounting for almost one-quarter of the year’s hiring.
Still, so many of the industry’s employers list staffing as one of their key concerns. I can understand why. A travel nurse I recently spoke with told me he was negotiating dueling offers for permanent positions in one city while at the same time working to obtain his license in two states halfway across the country. Talk about choices.
Candidates for positions throughout organizations have options because so many workers have left the industry after several difficult years. Healthcare employers are working to create pipelines, starting in high schools, to interest students in the field. But the efforts are new, and it won’t be known for years if the outreach and investment paid off.
What about the pipeline once new hires get settled in? New employees first think about pay, benefits, the job at hand and work-life balance, but the ambitious also want to see a career path.
Our 2024 class of 40 Under 40 demonstrates the various, and sometimes entirely unexpected, ways these professionals came to healthcare. And once in the industry, the self-starters found ways to excel through innovative thinking, hard work, opportunity and mentorship.
Healthcare is expected to remain a key driver of jobs regardless of the increasing use of technology. The field is also attracting a wide range of talent. It behooves employers to pay even more attention to creating internal opportunities for career development and advancement for the next generation of leaders.
Who within your organizations will Modern Healthcare be honoring in the next five, 10 and 15 years?
