report on health care workforce

The Center for Health Workforce Studies, at the University at Albany's School of Public Health, recently published a 136 page study of the health care workforce in New York. The report, which includes a section devoted to NYC, has some fascinating stuff: between 1990 and 2007, the health care workforce of NYC grew by 29%, whereas the workforce of NYC as a whole grew by 16% during the same period. Almost all of the jobs were in the private sector; private hospital jobs increased 3% while public hospital jobs went down 4%. (Hospitals provide about 50% of NYC's healthcare jobs.) Interestingly, the study reports that the number of RN positions in NYC went up 18.9% between 2002 and 2007, while the number of RNs increased only 3.1% between 2003 and 2007. The number of NPs went up 27% between 2003 and 2007. (Good luck with that job search, Laura.)

Overall, the study projects that there will be openings for nearly every type of healthcare job in NYC from 2006-2016. However, recent events have indicated that for RNs, and I would imagine other healthcare workers as well, the the picture has changed dramatically thanks to the recession.

Another unsurprising finding of the study is that minorities are underrepresented in New York State's physician workforce, even as the nonwhite portion of NYS' population continues to grow. Physicians who come from racial minorities are more likely to work in underserved communities and have on average a higher percentage of Medicaid patients.