Health Care Jobs Continue to Grow in New York, Yet Shortages Remain

The CHWS logo above five smiling doctors dressed in scrubs.

ALBANY, N.Y. (April 25, 2023) - The Center for Health Workforce Studies’ (CHWS) at the University at Albany recently released a report, The Health Care Workforce in New York: Trends in the Supply and Demand for Health Workers. The report showed that jobs in health care statewide grew between 2020 and 2021, though they were not back to the 2019 levels (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic). Health care jobs in New York City grew at a faster rate between 2020 and 2021 than jobs outside of New York City. Additionally, jobs in home health care grew by nearly 34% between 2017 and 2021, while jobs in nursing home and residential care facilities declined by almost 14% during the same time period.

The report found that registered nurses (RNs) were among the most difficult to recruit and retain across all health care settings. In addition to RNs, hospitals reported that clinical laboratory technologists, respiratory therapists, and surgical technicians were difficult to recruit and retain. Nursing homes reported that certified nurse aides and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) were also difficult to recruit and retain, while home health care agencies struggled to recruit and retain home health aides and personal care aides.

“The health care industry is experiencing recruitment and retention challenges across many health care occupations,” says Dr. Robert Martiniano, Senior Program Manager at CHWS. “This could result in delays in needed services to patients.”

Other findings from this report include:

  • Growth in employment in the health care sector in New York State continues to outpace employment in all other job sectors.
  • Many jobs were available for newly trained RNs, especially in hospitals and nursing homes.
  • Jobs for home health and personal care aides statewide are expected to grow the fastest  with over 90,000 projected average annual openings.
  • There are more than 14,000 projected average annual openings for RNs and nearly 5,000 projected average annual openings for licensed practical nurses.

CHWS Director Dr. Jean Moore states, “A key goal of this report is to assist New York’s stakeholders to more effectively target health workforce education, job training, and provider incentive resources; to guide health workforce policies—including decisions about the capacity of health professions education programs—and to inform current and prospective students about health care employment prospects and opportunities.”

The full report can be found on the CHWS website.

Established in 1996, CHWS is an academic research organization, based at the School of Public Health, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY). The mission of CHWS is to provide timely, accurate data and conduct policy relevant research about the health workforce. The research conducted by CHWS supports and promotes health workforce planning and policymaking at local, regional, state, and national levels. Today, CHWS is a national leader in the field of health workforce studies.