Study estimates shortage of 100,000 healthcare workers by 2028

New data has found that while the country continues to struggle with finding healthcare workers, these states are suffering the worst from the ongoing nursing shortage.

The data is part of a new study that examined labor trends in the healthcare industry and the growing need for care, finding that overall, there will be a shortage of over 100,000 critical healthcare workers in 2028, ranging from physicians to nursing assistants.

According to projections from the consulting firm Mercer , by 2028, there will be a surplus of registered nurses by about 30,000, though not every state will have an influx of workers.

The study predicts that New York, California, and Texas will struggle to find physicians over the next four years, while Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Minnesota will have a surplus.

For registered nurses, the report shared they are expected to be hard to find in New York, Tennessee, and Massachusetts.

However, every field is expected to have its ups and downs, especially nursing assistants. Mercer is estimating that by 2028 there will be a deficit of 73,000 nursing assistants as the field only grows by 0.1% a year.

A faster-growing field is nurse practitioners, which are expected to grow at the fastest-growing annual rate among the occupations Mercer examined in its study.

While current labor trends are not mainly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mercer does note in its report that high reports of burnout and stress lead to 100,000 workers leaving the industry from 2020 to 2022.

The report suggests that to prevent another mass exodus from the field, employers should try to stop burnout before it happens.

“Given that attrition is often driven by burnout, healthcare systems need to ensure the well-being of existing employees. This can be done by fine-tuning the employee value proposition concerning pay and benefits, schedule flexibility, career growth opportunities, and job satisfaction,” according to the report.