The Toughest Jobs To Fill: PTs and RNs Make The List

We’ve all been there. We’ve all gone through it. That agonizing feeling of finding that perfect job and then having your dreams crushed because a hiring manager says you don’t match the specific skill set that they’re looking for, making the job harder to fill. Some positions are more susceptible to this trend than others. Physical Therapist and Registered Nurse positions are among the top 10.

The Toughest Jobs To Fill Physical Therapist and Registered Nurse Make The List

A Competitive Job Market

According to a new report by CareerCast and the Society For Human Resource Management, there are several factors that contribute to “The 10 Toughest Jobs To Fill In 2016″. A possible labor shortage from retiring Baby Boomers could be one of the main reasons. It is estimated that nearly 38% of the working-age population will reach retirement in the next 10 years.

As it turns out, those same retirees will need healthcare services. Although physical therapy and nursing are listed as being ‘hard to fill positions’, both fields will likely see a spike in demand as the Baby Boomer population continues to retire.

In an effort to fill many of these job roles, companies and medical facilties will have to look towards younger candidates who can be trained and allowed to grow into the position

“The general increase in hourly rates across all settings is indicative of the lack of supply and the pent up demand for Therapists and Nurses,” said Mike Romano, COO of Ardor Health Solutions, “we’ve already seen the average rate go up $.75 from last year. So, we do expect that trend to continue.”

Where Have All The PT’s and RN’s Gone?

The Toughest Jobs To Fill Physical Therapist and Registered Nurse Make The List

Physical Therapist

The American Physical Therapy Association estimates that in 2016, demand for full-time physical therapists will exceed 229,000, with a pool of candidates of around 196,000—creating a gap of 33,000 unfilled jobs. Like other health care fields, demand is up due to greater accessibility to health insurance and the aging population.

Registered Nurse

The BLS projects a 19 percent growth rate by 2022, but it also estimates that 525,000 currently working registered nurses will have to be replaced due to retirements, which puts the total number of new hires anticipated at 1.05 million over the next seven years. In addition, the average age of working nurses is expected to rise to 44.6 from the current 42.7.

Looking Forward

Although Physical Therapists and Registered Nurses did make the list as some of the toughest jobs to fill, there is still a silver lining. Both positions may be tough to fill in 2016, but only because of a significant spike in demand as referenced above.

There is a lot of data to consider when trying to forecast the future of a particular sector of the healthcare sector.

Ardor Health Solutions recently compiled a brand new forecasting report for The Nursing Industry in 2016. The report crunches the numbers and looks deep into which way the nursing industry is trending.

Want to know more? Click below to view the report!