For the last month or so I have been reading many news stories of Nurses being layed off from hospitals across the country. Along with layoffs many hospitals are doing hiring freezes. I remember back in the 1990's when Hillary care came about, many hospitals did hiring freezes, even if a nurse quit they were not replaceing the nurses.
The scope of whats going on today is 10 fold worse than the 1990's. Hospitals are laying off nurses by the hundreds each and every day. Some hospitals are firing nurses on the slightest infraction.
The difference of the 1990's and today is that the economy is so bad many people have lost their jobs. No jobs, no health insurance, less admissions, less census. To add more pain to the situation many hospitals are claiming the decrease in medicare funds in payment from state governments, which leads to layoffs.
I remember back in the 1990's a friend of mine went to school for IT, after all, companies were taking students who didnt even finish the school because they needed people so bad. My poor friend started the school to late the dot com bubble came and he couldnt find a job in IT any where in the country! He went back to his faithful job as a RN only to be layed off. After 300 applications sent around the country he still hasnt found a job in med surg. Hospitals will not start to re-hire until the economy picks up and the unemployment goes below 8%. For people looking for a career in nursing dont think that nursing is a recession proof job, it isnt. Most new students who graduater cant even find a job, you may be better off going into therapy, OT jobs for now.