What is the job market like for Nursing right now?

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Just curious since 'studies' and statistics usually only express what the people behind them want to express, what is the job market like right now? New grads: Are you finding work easily? Employers: are you having a lot of vacancies to fill? Is it a catch 22, lots of work if you have experience but no chance to get experience unless you have a job?

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It depends on where you live.

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How about in southern california?

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How about NYC (Brooklyn/Queens) or Northern New Jersey

thanks

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Specializes in icu/er.

this is how it is in mississippi, within the last 3 yrs every community college (15) of them and every four yr school (with the exception of 1) has a nursing program. they put out around 800-1000 new rns every yr. for a state our size you can guest how this affects the job market..less positions, lower pay and greater competition. and the same can be said for the surrounding states of alabama, ark, la, tn and many other states. i have good friends that even nurse in southern cali. they said within the last 2yrs the jobs out there literally dried up. the bottom line is there was way too many folks geetin into nursing within the last few years. the ones that were going to retire over the last 4-5yrs decided to stay cause the economy sux and they lost 40-50k in their retirement plans when wall street tanked. i know personally many new nursing grad who have been searchin for decent jobs since last christmas and have only found part time or prn work at best. for all you wanna be nursing students you better reaserch your job oppurtunities and litsen to the nurses that have been trying to find work before you dump a load of cash inot school and cant get paid when you are through. what really sux stool is the nursing programs will take as many as they can pile in the class knowing that only 1 out of 5 will get a full time job within the first 3-5mo after graduating. beware and do your research and choose wise.

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Well in Iowa the job market is decent, not the best but we are better then some other states are right now. Partly the reason we do have openings are because Iowa pays nurses and other medical professionals lower than most states, but also cost of living here is fairly low.

If you are willing to relocate then finding a job may be easier, but if you only want to live in a specific area than the job search will take longer.

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Specializes in Pediatric Pulmonology and Allergy.

Whatever happened to that much-vaunted faculty shortage? I know how my school handled it--they just hired a bunch of unqualified instructors. :rolleyes:

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Just check the Graduate Nurse forum here. The job market is extremely tight for new grads in much of the U.S. at this time and in California and New York City area it sounds to be mostly impossible. A lot of it just depends on where you live.

That is how it is right now. Where it will be in two to four years, who knows.

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Specializes in ICU/ER/TRANSPORT.

and what compounds the issue more is all thers people jumping hoops to get inot programs seem to have no idea how tight the market is now. "well yahoo said there is a big shortage" thats all i hear...i tell'em you need to screw yahoo and start talking to recent grads or older nurses to get the real scoop. but they dont litsen...might as well be lambs being led to the slaughterhouse.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

My prediction is that we are seeing just the beginning of what is going to be a huge surplus in nurses that will last 10 years or so.

Even as new grads struggle to find work, the number of seats in nursing programs continues to rise and there continues to be an influx of economic refugees from other industries and professions.

Meanwhile, there's no indication nor any reason to believe that the economy will any time soon approach the growth levels of the last couple of decades... if ever. That growth was fueled by a confluence of events: explosive growth of semiconductor based systems (technology whose growth has really leveled off), cheap energy, cheap (cheap, cheap) money courtesy of "Easy" Al (Greenspan), ballooned real estate values, and enormous government spending on military technology.

While I do believe that health care is somewhat more stable than many other fields, I think it's going to be a very long time before we see the demand for nurses begin to equilibrate with supply. The natural result, of course, will be wage and benefit contraction.

Meanwhile, many people - even here on AN - continue with the "shortage" mantra.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

Song,

You don't think the fact that 80% of working nurses are over 55 will dilute the pool?

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.
Song,

You don't think the fact that 80% of working nurses are over 55 will dilute the pool?

That's not a fact.

By 2012 the average age is projected to be 44 and nurses in their 50's represent less than 25% of the workforce (AACN - Media - Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet).

I believe that many of those nurses will be working much longer than anybody ever expected. At the same time that they are not leaving the work force, the pipeline of people entering the field is expanding.

Nope, I don't think the "shortage" will ever materialize. Sadly, quite the opposite, methinks.

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