Old North News

Healthcare hiring has been on the rise in recent months, even as the overall labor market growth has slowed. National figures show that the private healthcare sector contributed 45% of all job gains in 2024. In North Carolina alone, healthcare employers added 20,500 jobs throughout the year, representing 43% of the state's total job growth.

This increase in numbers hides underlying challenges that healthcare employers face due to labor shortages and hiring difficulties. A recent report outlines trends in healthcare job openings, the recruitment challenges employers face, and potential solutions like technology in addressing these issues.

The demand for healthcare workers grew significantly following the initial COVID-19 pandemic phases. During this period, healthcare faced numerous challenges, but by 2022, the sector showed signs of recovery. Job openings in healthcare across various occupations reached record highs nationally, and North Carolina exhibited a similar trend as pandemic challenges subsided.

Roles in healthcare support occupations saw job openings surge from 15,400 in January 2020 to 31,100 in August 2022, before settling at 20,800 by the end of 2024. For healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, job openings rose from 15,500 in January 2020 to 27,600 in June 2023, decreasing to 20,300 by the end of 2024.

"Healthcare employers are finding it easier to fill open positions than in previous years, but that’s not to say hiring challenges have disappeared," the report notes. Despite a normalization in labor market conditions, competition for talent and a gap between job openings and available jobseekers persist.

The 2024 Employer Needs Survey found that 61% of North Carolina healthcare employers faced challenges in filling vacant positions, a reduction from 84% reported in a previous survey. "Healthcare employers hiring for entry-level positions pointed to a lack of employability skills—such as work ethic, motivation, and reliability—as the most common hiring obstacle," the survey revealed.

For more experienced roles, the challenge was primarily a low number of applicants and the unwillingness of applicants to accept offered wages. Employers also reported barriers like childcare and transportation as obstacles for entry-level applicants.

The introduction of AI and automation to address these hiring challenges remains limited. "Our latest Employer Needs Survey revealed only 8% of healthcare employers in North Carolina increased their use of AI or automation in response to hiring challenges," while the more common response was an increase in wages for new hires and existing workers.

AI usage in healthcare nationally has remained low, with ethical concerns, patient privacy, and the need for human interaction cited as factors limiting its adoption. While AI shows promise in tasks like diagnosing, its broader role in solving labor shortages remains unclear.

Healthcare employers appear to be more reliant on non-technological methods, such as raising wages, to fill workforce gaps. Technology's role in addressing these challenges will be monitored closely in the coming years.