Are Nursing Careers In Demand?
Never has there been a better time to choose nursing careers. By the year 2020 there is estimated to be a shortage of over 800,000 nurses. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there is a projection of approximately 587,000 new nursing careers that will occur between the 2006-2016 time period. In addition to these staggering numbers, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of positions will become available as a result of a need to replace experienced nurses who will be retiring from their nursing careers.
Overall, nurse employment is expected to grow approximately 23 percent from 2006 to 2016, which is at a rate much faster than all other occupations. However, nurse employment will not grow at the same rate in each nursing industry. Below are the projected growth rates for nurses in individual industries:
|
Offices of physicians |
39% |
|
Home health care services |
39% |
|
Outpatient care centers, except mental health and substance abuse |
34% |
|
Employment services |
27% |
|
General medical and surgical hospitals, public and private |
22% |
|
Nursing care facilities |
20% |
As a result of patients being discharged earlier from hospitals, the demand for these nursing careers are expected to decrease, shifting more towards outpatient care resulting in a rapid demand for all outpatient nursing care services from treatments such as chemotherapy and rehabilitation. With the Baby-Boomer Generation reaching their elderly years, nursing care facilities are expected to grow steadily over the upcoming years.
There are reports in many parts of the country of not beign able to attract enough qualified nurses because of an aging workforce and lack of new younger workers to fill their positions.
