It is a good time to be healthcare professional. Our 2016 Healthcare Recruitment Trends in 2016 & Beyond infographic below shows this industry is in the midst of some serious growth, both for job seekers, employers, and just about every else along the hiring chain in the healthcare industry. While there may a lot of positions opening, employers can have some serious challenges facing them when trying to find qualified applicants.

View from 30,000 feet

• $13.4 Billion (with a B!) will be spent on healthcare sector recruitment advertisements in 2016.
• There are currently 478,284 healthcare related job openings.
• On average, jobs are posted online for 50 days. There are 19 candidates per job opening.
• There are 12,230,000 healthcare professionals in the qualified talent pool available for healthcare related positions.
• The list of current top job titles includes:
  • Registered Nurse (2,687,310)
  • Licensed Practical Nurse (695,610)
  • Pharmacy Technician (368,760)
  • Pharmacist (290,780)
  • Physical Therapist (200,670)
  • Speech Language Pathologist (126,500)
  • Nurse Practitioner (122,050)
  • Occupational Therapist (110,520)
  • Physician Assistant (91,670)

By Geography

• The top paying states and the annual mean wage for healthcare jobs are:
  • $91,240 in California
  • $87,630 in Hawaii
  • $87,600 in Oregon
  • $86,830 in Alaska
  • $86,440 in New Jersey
• The states with the highest healthcare employment positions are:
  • California – 730,270
  • Texas – 574,980
  • New York – 502, 290
  • Florida – 465,460
  • Pennsylvania – 357,690

Healthcare Employment Growth

• Healthcare is projected to be the fastest growing industry within the service-providing division from 2012-2022, with a 2.6% per year growth rate.
• Employment is projected to grow by 29% by 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• This is 2X faster than overall projected employment growth.
• By 2022, the healthcare industry is expected to be the largest employer, overtaking state and local government by number of jobs.
• 64% of healthcare professionals surveyed plan to seek out a new job within the next year and 40% within the next 3 months alone.

Projected Numeric Growth

These are the most popular job title with the largest expected increase in employment by 2022:

• Personal Care Aids – 581,000 new jobs
• Registered Nurses – 527,000 new jobs
• Home Health Aides – 424,000 new jobs
• Nursing Assistants – 312,000 new jobs
• Licensed Practical & Licensed Vocational Nurses – 183,000 new jobs
• Medical Assistants – 163,000 new jobs
• Physical Therapists – 74,000 new jobs
• Dental Assistants – 74,000 new jobs
• Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians – 71,000 new jobs
• Pharmacy Technicians – 71,000 new jobs

The New Role of Social Media

• The use of social media for job searching in the healthcare industry has nearly doubled in the last 5 years.
• 60% of healthcare professionals enhanced their social profile in the past year.
• 42% of healthcare professionals actively engage in social media for job searching purposes.
• 40% of healthcare professionals use social media to research a company.
• 43% of healthcare professionals use social media to contact peers at a hiring company as an effective way to learn about new opportunities
• 31%of healthcare professionals use social media for professional networking.
• 20% of healthcare professionals use social media to reach a recruiter.
• 10% of healthcare professionals use social media to reach out to the HR department.

Looks like the healthcare sector is set to keep growing. But will there be enough qualified candidates for all the available jobs?