Why do hospitals hire travellers?

[mlbluvr]

There are millions of unemployed nurses, everywhere. And the pay of nurses is plummeting in many places. They could hire some of those milions, even to just have a pool of staff on call. Yet they pay huge $ for the travellers (salary, big housing allowances from the agency, food, etc., plus I'm sure the agency gets a big fat slice of the cash pie). I don't get it. Not in this economy anyway. The 80's, that makes more sense.

[Leonardo Del Toro, RN]

The reason why hospitals are increasingly hiring travelers is most likely management issues. Being nurses the hospitals biggest expense travelers offer complete control over reducing staff expenses right away. But there is a price to pay. If hospitals continue with this practice they will slowly substitute their own staff and be completely dependent of travel agencies. If the economy picks up and jobs in other areas becomes abundant it could upset the availability of travelers who now decide not to travel and just stay home. Travelers are a byproduct of recession when people will do whatever it takes to feed their families. So hospitals are gambling and betting that the economy is not going to improve and are investing heavily on something that should be temporary. Soon traveling agencies may not be able to supply the demand from hospitals or could have a price that is way above of permanent staff or could supply nurses with no experience or both. Interesting to see what will happen.