As of March, there are more than 27,000 open hospital jobs in the state of Michigan.
That figure comes from the Michigan Health & Hospital Association's Economic Impact of Healthcare report. Nearly 8,500 of the vacant roles are nursing positions.
"Our hospitals are trying to fill those slots and many of those are nursing. So, that opportunity to bring more people into health care, it's there today and it's going to increase going forward," MHA CEO Brian Peters told local news station WLNS. "We're an economic engine that hires a lot of people, and we need even more based on the environment that we're experiencing right now."
Mr. Peters also spoke out against the state's proposed mandated nurse staffing ratios, alleging the legislation would "only add fuel to that fire" of vacant jobs and threaten hospitals' viability.
"Our chief nursing officers are really in the best position to make those decisions; a one-size-fits-all mandated approach certainly does not give us that flexibility," Mr. Peters told the news station.
Although hospitals tend to reject mandated nurse-to-patient ratios, nurses and unions typically support them as means to protect caregivers and uphold patient safety.