Nurse Workforce Shortage Looms as More Nurses May Leave Profession

While nursing salaries have increased, the share of nurses considering leaving the profession is also up as pandemic-related stressors continue to impact the workplace and exacerbate the nurse workforce shortage, the 2022 Nurse Salary Research Report found.

The report assesses salary, benefits, education, and pandemic impacts for registered nurses (RNs), advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), and licensed practical/vocational nurses (LPNs/LVNs). Nurse.com surveyed more than 2,500 nurses between November 12 and December 12, 2021.

The median salary for RNs was $78,000, marking a substantial increase from the 2020 median of $73,000. APRN salary was up $13,000 in 2021 at $120,000 and LPN/LVN was $3,000 higher at $48,000.

However, the gender pay gap for RNs widened, with male RNs making $14,000 more per year than females. In contrast, female APRNs and LPN/LVNs had slightly higher salaries than their male counterparts.

Racial disparities in salary also emerged. Nurses who identified as Black or African American and American Indian or Alaska Native reported the lowest levels of satisfaction with their salaries and reported working more hours per week than other racial groups.

Unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the healthcare workforce, though not all of the effects were negative.

For example, when asked if the pandemic affected their salaries, 25 percent of respondents noted increases in their pay. RNs were more likely to report gains compared to APRNs, but LPN/LVNs were more likely to report increases than both RNs and APRNs.

Nurses between 25 and 44 years old, male nurses, acute care and long-term care nurses, Black nurses, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander nurses were also more likely to report pandemic-related increases in their salaries.

The pandemic made some nurses reassess their positions, though. The percentage of nurses considering changing employers rose from 11 percent in 2020 to 17 percent in 2021.

In addition, nearly half of the respondents (47 percent) reported being open to new opportunities even though they were not actively looking for a new job.

Among the nurses actively or passively looking to change employers, less than 20 percent plan to stay in their current position for more than three years. Three in ten nurses plan to leave in the next two to three years, the report found.

Millennials, male nurses, acute care and long-term care nurses, and Black nurses were most likely to be actively looking to change employers.

Nearly 30 percent of nurses were considering leaving the profession altogether, increasing from 11 percent in 2020. Around one-third of male RNs, female LPN/LVNs, Baby Boomers, and White nurses reported that they are considering leaving the profession.

Overall, nurses said that higher pay would be the biggest motivator to stay in their profession. Better support for work-life balance and a more reasonable workload followed close behind.

Certain motivating factors ranked higher for different groups. For example, Generation Z and Millennial nurses were more motivated by a better work-life balance than other generations. Generation Z also prioritized better colleague interactions compared to other generations.

Meanwhile, Baby Boomers were less likely to agree with any motivators as reasons to stay, perhaps because they are nearing retirement age, the report suggested.

Separate data from Incredible Health revealed that more than a third of nurses plan to quit their current position by the end of 2022.

In addition to investing in strategies and resources to improve the retention and recruitment of nurses, healthcare facilities have frequently turned to travel nurses to fill staffing gaps.

Staff nurses have also changed courses during the pandemic to become travel nurses, citing higher pay and flexible hours as reasons for the shift, the Nurse.com report found.

The healthcare industry, including hospitals, ambulatory care facilities, and nursing care facilities, added 34,000 new jobs in April 2022. But the industry is still down 250,000 jobs compared to before the pandemic and experts predict that these shortages will likely continue.