“A lot of people are still assuming that if they go to nursing school and graduate, that a lot of hospitals will be fighting over them to get their services, but that’s not necessarily the case,” said Don Nakamoto, labor market specialist for the Verdugo Workforce Investment Board.
Health care and education represented the only non-agricultural employment category to grow in June, expanding by 1.1%, according to the California Economic Development Department.
But hiring in the field has been focused on part-time workers, not new, permanent employees who might present more of a risk during an uncertain economy, Nakamoto said.
“I think we’re starting to see bottlenecks developing at the nursing level because a lot of the graduates aren’t being offered full-time employment.”
That has been a problem at Glendale Community College, where graduating classes of more than 60 students in recent semesters have struggled to find work, said Danny Ranchez, a nursing instructor at the college.
Students who entered the nursing program “very confident” that they would find work because of public perception of constant job growth in the field are instead frustrated by a tightening market, Ranchez said.
Local hospitals, although they have hired nurses, are focusing on experienced candidates, which are less expensive to employ because they require less attention and orientation, he said.
The shrinking amount of opportunities for new nurses is not likely to change as fewer patients are able to pay for care with insurance and more opt out of elective procedures altogether, said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.
