500,000 UNFILLED RN JOBS BY 2022

The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) is a treasure trove of data.  Government agencies, politicians, and employers use this data to analyze and assess trends in US employment.  The 2014 edition of the OOH shows that job openings in nursing is expected to outpace almost all other occupations.  In fact, healthcare occupations in fields like Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Audiologists, and Home Health dominate the list of fastest-growing occupations. 

Traditionally, America has been welcoming to immigrants in occupational zones that Americans have been unwilling to fill.  Whether Congress recognizes this fact and improves the pathway for these workers to come to the US is still an open question.

Organizations such as FWD.us and the Partnership for a New American Economy are working exceptionally hard to convince legislators of the potential gains to the US economy by strategic immigration policy.  One of their recent projects has been to show the impact of immigration on a state by state basis, called Map The Impact.  Map The Impact allows users to see the local impact on restrictive immigration.

For instance, we can learn that there will be 60,000 open nursing positions in Florida alone by the end of the decade.  There will be another 10,000 open positions in the small state of New Mexico.

There have been some recent indications that the Republican’s animosity to immigration reform may be thawing.  Republicans such as likely Presidential candidate Jeb Bush and Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake have recently spoke positively of immigration reform.  For America’s sake, let’s hope others are listening.