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Demand for Registered Nurses Results in Increased Employment

In our last issue of UNA Action, we reported that RNs have the largest projected 10-year job growth of any occupation. Now research conducted by Peter Buerhaus at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing has found that wage increases, relatively high national unemployment and initiatives aimed at increasing the number of people who become nurses has resulted in a second straight year of strong employment growth among RNs. Hospitals and other health care facilities hired about 205,000 nurses between 2001 and 2003 — the largest two-year increase in nursing employment since 1965.

According to the study, the employment of nurses older than age 50 increased at an average annual rate of 20 percent between 2001 and 2003, and employment of foreign-born nurses increased at an average of 12.5 percent annually over the same period. The rates of employment of male and/or married nurses also increased.

According to the study, the average hourly wage for a hospital nurse increased 1.8 percent (from $23.80 to $24.22) between 2002 and 2003, and 4.9 percent between 2001 and 2002 (from $22.67 to $23.80).

The need for nurses is projected to continue. There were 2 million nurses working in 2000. It is expected that 2.8 million nurses will be needed by 2020.

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