Nursing Shortage Fallacy?

As opposed to putting it on the "paying dues' thread, I'll start a new one...

Do you feel that there truly is a "nursing shortage" in our country today? Or more specifically, in your part of the country?

I have a hard time believing that it's true, when we are getting called off left and right because we have too many nurses scheduled for what our census is on most days. In particular, our 12 hour night shifts are WAY overscheduled, sometimes we have SEVEN RN's on at that time (and we never need more than five, and five is if we are full, usually it's four or even three, so often we are calling people off/sending people home).

Thoughts?