Workforce

Forty-nine percent of nurses in Washington state said they are likely to leave healthcare in the next few years, according to a recent poll. 

Healthcare workers in New York must still be vaccinated against COVID-19, even as the state allows its mask mandate for hospitals and healthcare facilities to lapse, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Feb. 13, according to Spectrum News 1.

Five states have recently proposed staffing ratios, which would limit the number of patients a nurse could be assigned at once. The battle to pass those measures will likely be uphill. 

Hutchinson (Kan.) Regional Medical Center plans to lay off 85 employees, a move tied to challenges in today's healthcare environment. 

Dallas-based Tenet Health reported contract labor expenses peaked last September, and then the company lowered expenses by almost 23 percent by December, CEO Saum Sutaria, MD, said during the earnings call Feb. 9, as reported by Yahoo Finance.

After losing 2 million more jobs than men in the first months of the pandemic, women are rejoining the labor force at higher rates than their male counterparts, The Washington Post reported Feb. 12. 

Younger generations aren't lamenting layoffs, Bloomberg reported Feb. 8. 

The current state of the workforce is tough to piece together based on headlines alone. Hiring is allegedly up — which seems counterintuitive as inflation rises, consumers rein in spending and high-profile tech layoffs dominate the news. 

Renton, Wash.-based Providence plans to triple its number of employees in Hyderabad, India, a major technology hub, according to local newspaper The Siasat Daily.

Citing a challenging financial and operating environment, Boise, Idaho-based St. Luke's Health System said it is reducing its more than 16,000-member workforce by about 2 percent.