The COVID-19 pandemic produced major disruptions in the US labor market, reshaping patterns of employment and wages across many industries. In the broader workforce, the lowest-income workers experienced some of the largest wage gains during the pandemic recovery, leading to a compression of wage disparities. However, it remains unclear whether similar patterns occurred within the…
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a rapid expansion of the use of travel nurses—registered nurses (RNs) hired on short-term contracts to meet immediate labor needs. What began as a pandemic-era response has become increasingly normalized, prompting a reconsideration of the assumed relationship between professionalism and tenure. Yet little is known about how this expansion has shaped…
Despite the mental health crisis youth face in the United States, little is known about how children differentially access mental health care from primary care providers and psychiatrists. Using the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), researchers explored trends over time from 2005-2019. This article examines demographic and diagnostic differences in treatments for child mental…
Peer Recovery Support Specialists (PRSS) play a crucial role in the behavioral health workforce, assisting individuals in their recovery from substance use and mental health challenges. Despite their essential contributions to the behavioral health field, research on resilience among peers remains limited. This article examines how PRSSs’ personal resilience and their satisfaction with supervisor and…
The COVID-19 pandemic intensified longstanding health workforce shortages, with hospitals, nursing facilities, and rural providers struggling to retain staff even after COVID-19 hospitalizations declined. Historically, healthcare employment has shown a countercyclical relationship with the broader economy, expanding during downturns such as the Great Recession. These dynamics, influenced by gender, race, and macroeconomic conditions, suggest that…
Appropriate prenatal care is critical to ensuring safe childbirth, but many populations face barriers that create inequities in maternal health outcomes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth emerged as a promising way to expand access, therefore driving its rapid adoption. This shift highlights the need to better understand the workforce providing telehealth for pregnancy care. This…
The dental safety net is a crucial component of the oral health care delivery system providing needed care for vulnerable populations. Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) are an important part of the dental safety net and serve underserved communities, delivering care to all patients, regardless of income or insurance status. Staffing levels, types of services…
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted long-standing trends in the US nursing workforce. After years of steady growth, the number of registered nurses (RNs) in the workforce declined in 2021 but rebounded in 2022 and 2023. Faced with RN shortages, financial strain, and rising patient acuity, hospital leaders adopted alternative staffing models during the pandemic. These models…
Local health departments play a critical role in promoting the overall health and well-being of communities across the country, and influxes of response-related funding and attention make it challenging to build and sustain a consistent and well-trained public health workforce. Local public health is increasingly being asked to do more for growing populations with diverse…
Understaffing is a chronic public health challenge. Ensuring a sustainable public health workforce requires innovative recruitment and retention strategies. Recommended strategies include holistic recruitment efforts in collaboration with community and academic partners, enhanced leadership training, staff compensation reviews, flexible work arrangements, and worker wellbeing initiatives. This article discusses the creation of the “Putting Our People…
