Do you think the job market for nurses will improve by the time you graduate?

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Lack of nursing jobs is pretty much on top of everyone's mind right now. I feel like it's the biggest issue out there for aspiring nurses. As a pre-nursing student it's made me question my career choice a couple of times, however, I keep hearing about how demands for nurses is cyclical and it will eventually go back to the way it used to be with an abundance of work opportunities everywhere. So for now, I'm holding still and not making any major changes.

What about you? Do you think things will be better by the time you graduate and you're ready to work? Or do you think it'll be like this for a long time? If you don't see the situation improving within the near future, what's still making you pursue this field?

That sounds like an amazing set up (given the times). However, I have to wonder how if the pay/benefits/hours are all comparable to the job and position if you were to get hired the typical way after you graduate.

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They said that they are the same...The contract we signed said we will be offered the same amt any new grad would be at the current pay rate and same shift differentials and benefits. I already qualify for the benefits b/c I am already working at a PCT

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That sounds great. Congrats on securing this set up. :)

Outta curiosity, what state are you in, what nursing field are you going into, and how many years are you contractually obligated to work for this hospital?

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Yes, I'm very curious about this as well. As a student, I guess I have to build whatever rapport and connection I can with hospitals before I graduate.

Also, I know that a lot of older nurses are back from retirement and what not, but the way I see it, (whether they intend to or not) at some point they are gonna HAVE to stop working. I think once the economy improves a bit, whoever was originally retired, for the most part, will go back to retirement. My main concern would only be the huge backlog of new grad nurses that have been waiting for jobs for a while now...

When the media says "retired" nurses, they do not always mean those who are say in their 50's or older, but rather a mix of nurses including the vast numbers who left the field for various reasons. Those reasons can include anything from marriage & child rearing to insurance or any other sort of work that is not at bedside, to simply not working at all. However long as such nurses keep their license active and their skills are up to date, they can return to work anytime they wish.

2 Off Topic Rants :spbox:

1It seems like health-care-reform for the ridiculously broken system here in America is getting a lot of flack on these forums. I figure if more people have access to health-care, that means more patients which would mean more work, need, and demand for nurses. If this technically puts us under a "socialized-medicine" label, then so be it. I'd rather have socialized-medicine than be stuck in a corrupt, system that is literally either bankrupting everyday citizens, or killing them with financially unattainable care, while insurance companies rake in obscene profits for not holding their end of the deal. :confused:

Healthcare "reform" was more to do with insurance reform and the implications,especially for nurses will be great.

Yes, large numbers of persons formally without insurance coverage now getting it in theory should be a good thing, but once you graduate and start working as an RN, thus dealing with insurance companies and or Medicaid/Medicare on behalf of your patients, you will understand why many are raising alarms.

The amount insurance companies and the federal government pay to reimburse hospitals, doctors and others for healthcare varies, with normall Medicaid paying the least. If a hospital or doctor is lucky the plan will cover 80% of each dollar he has spent, but the reality is often the number is much lower.

Most hospitals play a little game where they charge persons with priviate insurance higher rates to compensate for the lower payments from federal programs. Persons without insurance all together pay the highest "rack" rates of them all. However insurance companies are getting more and more testy of being called upon to make up those differences,and more and more are lowering not raising their reimbursement rates.

What the new healthcare law does in add to a hospital's workload, without any clear indication of where the money is going to come from to pay. Ok, there are some rules about forcing insurance companies to devote more of the money they take in to direct healthcare, but how that will work out remains to be seen.

The largest cost for any hospital is labour, and nursing service makes up the major portion of that, so what has many nurses very worried is that patient loads will increase without the hiring of enough nurses. California is the only state with mandatory nurse to patient ratios, everywhere else hospitals themselves set staffing levels.

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You bring up some valid concerns here. However, something just had to be done. If it comes down to a bunch of trial and error changes until a fix works, then I'm all for it. Like you, I don't know how effective Obama's health-care reform will be, but I do know that staying with the status-quo was absolutely not an option I would have considered as a voter.

Also, I wasn't aware CA has nurse-patient ratio laws. I guess I should feel fortunate as someone from Los Angeles.

Anyway, when the nursing demand was at its peak, anyone know what it was like before it kicked in? Were nursing job opportunities dried up like they are now? I'm just curious as to what the demand/supply cycle has been like in the past.

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Specializes in ICU.

I am in a program currently where I can graduate with my ADN in May 2011, or wait till May 2012 and graduate with my BSN. Ideally, i've planned from the beginning to stay in through the BSN, and with current employment conditions, it seems like the only reasonable option at this point. While I don't think our economy or healthcare will be "fixed" or back to normal by 2012, I do believe it will be improved, or at least general employment that is. Do I think that I will be graduating with sevaral recruiters actively seeking my employment once I've passed the NCLEX? Probably not, but I do think (hope?) that the local climate will have improved somewhat and I won't have as hard a time finding employment as the current new grads are having :(

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"I figure if more people have access to health-care, that means more patients which would mean more work, need, and demand for nurses."

Resources are still limited.

One of the ways Medicare deals with that is to set the amounts they will pay for a given proceedure or service, sometimes below its cost. That currently works because care providers can cover their losses by charging the private sector more. Hopefully, those amounts will be enough to cover nursing salaries at the current levels after the bill takes the private sector out of the picture (still called private but they don't decide who their customers are, how much they charge, how much they spend, or what they spend it on... so not really private as far as a market force.)

They don't have to deal with limited resources in that way but the other ways have the same uncertainty about the future prospects of nurses.

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Specializes in PCU, LTAC, Corrections.

The nursing market really depends on what state you are in. I live in the NY metro area and the nursing unemployment rate for new grads is not as poor as in CA.

At the same time it is not as easy to get a job as it used to be.

I do believe that the job market will improve by the time I get my BSN. I am hoping to start clinicals in Sp-2011 and I would graduate F-2012.

The economy as a whole is improving. This will lead to an increase in jobs in all sectors. Once that happens people will be able to go back to doctors and hospitals because they will have health insurance. Elective operations will also increase due to an increase in extra money to be spent.

So yes I am sure that the job market all around will increase. The only thing that happened really throughout this bottoming out of the economy is that hospitals can be much more picky with applicants. In the past as long as you graduated with a nursing degree and passed the NCLEX a job was a ll but guaranteed.

Once I do start taking clinicals I aim to have the highest GPA possible. High GPA might not equal good nurse but it is more likely to get your foot in the door.

I am just thankful I am on the east coast. I see the posts for jobs in CA and other western states and I realize that I cannot complain about how things are in NY.

I am also thinking of signing up myself for a hospital contract for the HHC in NYC.

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I hope the economy improves long before I graduate next spring.

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I am so nervous to start an ADN program right now for fear of not having a job when I graduate. :( I really hope for all of us it won't be much of an issue!! I already have school loans from a previous degree. =/

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As I look around the hospital where I work as a tech I notice most of the nurses are not anywhere close to retirement age and there are a ton of nursing schools in the area. I don't see it changing.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I am finishing up my first semester and have been hired by a local hospital for after I graduate. It is an expansion type program, as listed above by a previous poster. It is a huge weight off me as I finish up school to know I already have a job lined up. The money for school is nice but the job was my main motivation in pursuing it. They have ten slots per year for this program and recipients get priority consideration for all internships as well. I still intend to interview with other hospitals and programs - worst that happens is I have to pay the money back if I decide another situation would be a better fit. For me that would not be a problem.

I don't know how competitive it is to secure one of these types of positions. I was called immediately, interviewed immediately and hired two days after the interview. So either I look good on paper and interview well or a lot of people aren't applying.

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