• The health care industry is predicted to add nearly 3.5 million new jobs between 2002 and 2012, an increase of 30%. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
  
• From 2002-2012, 10 of the 20 fastest growing occupations are concentrated in health services. These positions include medical assistants (59% growth), physician assistants (49% growth), home health aides (48% growth), and medical records and health information technicians (47% growth). (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
  
• Projected rates of employment growth for the various segments of the industry range from 12.8% in hospitals, the largest and slowest-growing industry segment, to 55.8% in the much smaller home health care services. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Pipeline: Recruitment and Retention


• Increasing available labor pool
  
• Increasing diversity and seeking workers from non-traditional labor pools
  
• Reducing turnover

Skill Development


• Preparing entry-level workers
  
• Training incumbent workers
  
• Filling need for targeted and specialized areas of skills

Capacity of Education and Training Providers


• Filling the need for academic and clinical instructors
  
• Filling the need for facilities and resources
  
• Aligning employer requirements and curricula

Sustainability: Infrastructure, Leadership, and Policy


• Filling the need for sustainable partnerships at national, state, and local levels
  
• Locating opportunities to leverage funding and other resources
  
• Using planning tools (data, projections, and information systems)
  
• Understanding policy issues, including those of regulation

• Many health care jobs require less than 4 years of college education, although most technical jobs require at least a 2-year technical degree.
  
• A variety of post-high school programs provide specialized training for jobs in health services. Students preparing for health care careers can enter programs leading to a certificate or a degree at the associate, baccalaureate, professional, or graduate level. Two-year programs resulting in certificates or Associate degrees are the minimum standard credential for occupations such as a dental hygienist or radiological technologist.
  
• Managers in health care need to have the management, coaching, and cultural competency skills to enable them to communicate effectively in an increasingly diverse work environment.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao has announced a series of investments totaling approximately $35 million to counter health care labor shortages.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has sought to understand and implement industry-identified strategies to confront critical workforce shortages. It has listened at sessions conducted by associations representing thousands of health care institutions, and considered viewpoints expressed in-person by over 300 health care leaders. Solutions that have been adopted as a result of eight forums will act as national models through the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative.

This set of solutions cuts across the national labor needs of the health care industry in acute care, long term care, allied health care professions, as well as the unique challenges facing rural areas. It focuses on specific as well as the broader range of challenges in the health care arena, including:


• expanding the pipeline of youth;
  
• helping alternative labor pools gain industry-defined skills and competencies;
  
• developing alternative training strategies; developing tools and curricula for enhancing skill sets;
  
• enhancing the capacity of educational institutions;
  
• developing industry-defined career ladders and lattices; developing strategies to retain and retrain incumbent workers; and
  
• assisting transitioning individuals from declining industries to high growth industries.

Total Industry Investment is $34,561,668 Total Leveraged Resources are $29,646,613 The 1199 SEIU League Grant Corporation on behalf of the League 1199 SEIU Training and Upgrading Fund (NY) Creating Career Ladders for Health Care Workers: The Contextualized Literacy Pre-LPN Program Grant amount: $192,500; Leveraged amount: $100,000 The American Health Care Association Foundation (national) Developing Partnerships and Initiatives to Resolve Long-Term Care Workforce Challenges Grant amount: $113,296; Leveraged amount: $7,615 Berger Health System (OH) Three-Year, Hospital-Based Nursing Degree at a Rural Community Hospital Grant amount: $200,000; Leveraged amount: $405,939 CAEL (IL, MD, SD, TX, WA, GA, WI, VA) Health Care Career Ladder Project Grant amount: $2,555,706; Leveraged amount: $1,233,512 Capital IDEA (TX) Efficacy of Tutoring to Reduce Health Care Occupation Bottleneck Grant amount: $224,088; Leveraged amount: $456,091 Catalyst Learning (FL, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, MO, NC, OH, PA, TN, TX, VA) Hospitality Television – School at Work Health Care Career Advancement Demonstration Grant 1st grant amount: $1,176,000 in July 2002; 2nd grant amount: $2,000,000 in August 2003; Leveraged amount: $2,715,682 Columbia Gorge Community College (OR) Rural Health Care Job Training Pilot Economic Recovery Demonstration Project Grant amount: $1,250,000; Leveraged amount: $870,982 The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society (MN, ND, SD) Healthcare Career Lattice: A Model for Enhanced Learning Grant amount: $1,877,517; Leveraged amount: $1,204,000 Excelsior College (NY) The Hospice and Palliative Care Certificate Program Grant amount: $516,154; Leveraged amount: $82,325 Florida International University School of Nursing (FL) New Americans in Nursing Grant amount: $1,419,266; Leveraged amount: $547,209 Hospital Corporation of America (FL, TX) Specialty Nurse Training Grant amount: $4,000,000; Leveraged amount: $6,076,930

Johns Hopkins Health System (MD) Johns Hopkins Health System’s Incumbent Worker Career Acceleration Program Grant amount: $3,000,000; Leveraged amount: $3,900,000 The Management and Training Corporation (IL, OH, PA) Meeting America’s Healthcare Employment Needs: The Job Corps/Community College Solution Grant amount: $1,500,000 Leveraged amount: $70,022 Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation and Governor’s Workforce Investment Board (MD) Maryland Healthcare Workforce Initiative Grant amount: $1,500,000; Leveraged amount: $700,000 North Carolina Department of Commerce Commission on Workforce Development (NC) Project HEALTH: Helping Employers and Labor Transition to Health Care Grant amount: $1,500,000; Leveraged amount: $100,000 The Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (NY) Recruitment and Retention of Direct-Care Workers Grant amount: $999,902; Leveraged amount: $999,902 Pueblo Community College (CO) Pueblo Project HEALTH Grant amount: $715,402; Leveraged amount: $595,062 Rio Grande Valley Allied Health Training Alliance (TX) Growing Our Own Grant amount: $4,000,000; Leveraged amount: $4,457,200 The State of Oregon (OR) Oregon Governor’s Healthcare Workforce Initiative Grant amount: $300,000; Leveraged amount: $450,000 The States of Georgia, Florida, Texas and Colorado (CO, FL, GA, TX) HCA/DOL Health Care Careers Scholarship Partnership: “HCA Cares” Grant amount: $4,541,205; Leveraged amount: $5,000,000 Tacoma–Pierce County Workforce Development Council (WA) Healthcare Services Business Connection Grant amount: $762,659; Leveraged amount: $700,000 Northwest Wisconsin CEP, Inc (WI) Healthcare Workforce Network Grant amount: $215,600; Leveraged amount: $196,000

For additional background information about the industry and details on the grants, information about employment and training opportunities, and workforce development tools for employers, educators, and workforce professionals please refer to the following: www.doleta.gov/BRG, http://www.careervoyages.gov, http://www.careeronestop.org, and http://www.workforce3one.org.