There’s nothing more frustrating and defeating than spending years going to school studying a specific subject or profession only to find that job opportunities are limited once you graduate. It’s why it’s so important that you do your due diligence researching the job market before you enroll in any schools or programs.
For example, if you’re thinking about becoming a nurse, then you should look into how easy or hard it will be for you to get a job and what the nursing job market will look like. Fortunately, if you are thinking about enrolling in a nursing program, you’ll be happy to know that you should have plenty of job opportunities once you graduate and pass your certification exam.
Hospitals aren’t the only places that hire nurses. You can get a job as a nurse in many different places. This means that there are more places to work than you might realize once you become a nurse. For example, nurses are needed at places like doctor’s offices, schools (including public and private schools as well as colleges), nursing homes, correctional facilities, the military, and more.
As long as the population continues to grow, so will the need for medical care. Now, the population in the U.S. is growing at a slower rate than it has since 1937. This might seem worrisome for a job market that you could arguably correlate with population growth. However, the elderly population is larger than it’s ever been.
By 2030, everyone from the Baby Boomer generation will be older than 65. Additionally, older Americans will account for 21 percent of the entire population — that’s a huge increase from the 15 percent that they make up today. It’s also estimated that not only will 25 percent of all Americans be 65 years or older by 2060, but there will be three times as many Americans aged 85 and older. And as you know, the older a person gets, the more medical care they will likely need.
The demand for new nurses isn’t just going to increase due to an increasing population of elderly Americans. It’s also because many nurses will be retiring soon. This is because many nurses belong to the Baby Boomer generation. By 2020, there will be an estimated 660,000 nurses who are Baby Boomers — almost half as many as there were in 2008.
If you’re worried about the nursing job market once you become certified as a nurse, don’t be. There should be plenty of opportunities to secure a position as a nurse at a variety of different locations. In fact, the demand for nurses is only expected to grow, which means nursing is an excellent career to pursue if you’re looking for stability as well as the chance for growth. For information about our CNA nursing programs, be sure to contact us today.