Healthcare and behavioral health professionals employed by local, state, and federal governments are essential to maintaining public health infrastructure, ensuring access to care, and responding to emergencies. Despite their importance, limited research has examined how recent policy, budgetary, and labor market changes are influencing their employment stability and retention within government sectors. This article uses…
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…
This webinar explores career transitions across the professional life course, with a particular focus on navigating the move from a PhD program to a first postdoctoral or professional role, as well as later-stage transitions across sectors. Speakers shared practical insights on shifting between government service, consulting or contracting roles, academia, and nonprofit organizations, highlighting how…
Disease intervention specialists (DISs) play a crucial role in the public health workforce by conducting essential tasks such as contact tracing, contact interviews, and providing referrals for services to control disease spread. Despite the importance of DISs, research is lacking on the job tasks that they perform and the role that they serve in public…
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…
The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system is the federal standard for categorizing occupation data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) gathers data using SOC codes to help with enumeration, wage data, occupational exposures data, and other workforce analyses. However, the data currently presented through programs such as the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)…
The healthcare sector in the US, traditionally a source of stable employment, experienced significant workforce disruptions during the pandemic, with job losses and elevated exit rates, especially among women and Black and Hispanic workers. While concerns about workforce diversity persist, little is known about who is entering the field post-pandemic, despite renewed and growing demand…
Community health workers (CHWs) have critical importance in health departments as they often share the same cultural background (ethnicity and language), socioeconomic status, and life experiences as members of underserved communities. This shared culture increases the level of trust between the community and health department. However, as a professional group, CHWs face several challenges related…
The health care sector, predominantly staffed by women, faces significant gender pay disparities. This inequity not only results in lower lifetime earnings for women but may also discourage them from pursuing advancement in health care careers. However, little is known about how the gender wage gap has changed in the health care workforce over the…
A well-trained public health workforce is the linchpin to addressing current and future public health challenges, but achieving this goal requires a significant overhaul of recruiting, hiring, training, and retaining staff. This webinar provides an introduction to the public health workforce, focusing on challenges that the workforce has faced since the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics covered…
