Healthcare Industry Setbacks
The labor shortage in the healthcare industry is nothing new. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, headlines often showed up, providing a brief glimpse into the severe nursing staff shortage. The pandemic, burnout, and retirement are all commonly cited as reasons for this shortage. However, legal immigration and foreign-born workers have historically played a key role in the industry.
The National Immigration Forum reports that Immigrants make up 15% of nurses, over 25% of health aides, 38% of home health aides, and 28% of physicians and surgeons. America’s healthcare industry relies heavily on a steady flow of foreign-born workers. Without this flow, we could expect to see a significant gap, and that’s exactly what has happened.
By 2025, Mercer predicts that the U.S. will face a healthcare shortage of over 500,000 workers. A labor gap of this size will have lasting ripple effects such as rising wait times, hospital & care facility closures, and patients needing to travel long distances to receive the care they need. How do we know this? Because we’re seeing these issues present themselves with the current gap size, they will only increase in severity as fewer legal immigrants make their way to the states.