CHWS Releases 2020 Workforce Report

The Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) at the School of Public Health, University at Albany has released its annual report, The Health Care Workforce in New York State: Trends in the Supply of and Demand for Health Care Workers. The goals of the report are to provide a review of the health care employment trends in New York State, identify the health care professions and occupations currently in greatest demand, and guide health care workforce policies, including decisions related to the capacity of health professions education programs and job training resources to address the most pressing health care workforce needs. The report addresses population characteristics, health care sector employment by region and sector (hospital, ambulatory care, nursing and residential care facility, and home health care), graduations and licensure by occupation, trends in registered nurse (RN) education, and projected job growth.

Some findings include the following:

• Jobs in all health care settings in New York State are growing, especially in ambulatory care settings and home health care (7.2 percent and 52.2 percent, respectively).
• Employment in health care in New York City grew by 16 percent between 2014 and 2018. Outside of New York City, the region with the highest job growth during this period was Long Island (12.7 percent), followed by the Hudson Valley (7.5 percent) and Finger Lakes (7.0 percent) regions.
• RN graduations continue to grow in New York State, driven by an increase in baccalaureate (BSN) graduations.
• Nearly 1,500 nurse practitioners graduated from New York State schools in 2017, reflecting an 84.4 percent increase since 2013. Conversely, medical assistant program graduations and certifications dropped by more than 2,600, a 37.2 percent decline during the same period.
• Nurse practitioners and physician assistants experienced the greatest growth in licenses between 2015 and 2019 (28.8 percent and 22.4 percent, respectively). In contrast, clinical laboratory technologists and clinical laboratory technicians declined by 10.5 percent and 12.1 percent, respectively, during the same period.

Contact: Meg Everett, meverett@leadingageny.org, 518-929-9342