Registered Nurse Jobs

Training and Education Jobs and Salaries

As the largest health care occupation, registered nurses hold about 2.5 million jobs. Hospitals employ the majority of RN, with almost sixty percent of jobs. Other industries also employed large shares of workers. About eight percent of jobs are in offices of physicians, five percent in home health care services, five percent in nursing care facilities, four percent in employment services, and three percent in outpatient care centers. The remainder work mostly in government agencies, social assistance agencies, and educational services. About twenty percent of registered nurses work part time.

Overall job opportunities for registered nurses are expected to be excellent, but may vary by employment and geographic setting. Employment of registered nurses is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through 2016 and, because the occupation is very large, many new jobs will result. In fact, registered nurses are projected to generate 587,000 new jobs, among the largest number of new jobs for any occupation. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of job openings will result from the need to replace experienced nurses who leave the occupation.

Employment of registered nurses is expected to grow 23 percent from 2006 to 2016, much faster than the average for all occupations. Growth will be driven by technological advances in patient care, which permit a greater number of health problems to be treated, and by an increasing emphasis on preventive care. In addition, the number of older people, who are much more likely than younger people to need nursing care, is projected to grow rapidly. However, employment of registered nurses will not grow at the same rate in every industry.

The projected growth rates for RN in the industries with the highest employment of these workers are as follows: offices of physicians 39 percent, home health care services 39 percent, outpatient care centers, except mental health and substance abuse 34 percent, employment services 27 percent, general medical and surgical hospitals, public and private 22 percent, and nursing care facilities 20 percent. Employment is expected to grow more slowly in hospitals than in most other health care industries. While the intensity of nursing care is likely to increase, requiring more nurses per patient, the number of inpatients (those who remain in the hospital for more than 24 hours) is not likely to grow by much.

Patients are being discharged earlier, and more procedures are being done on an outpatient basis, both inside and outside hospitals. Rapid growth is expected in hospital outpatient facilities, such as those providing same-day surgery, rehabilitation, and chemotherapy. More and more sophisticated procedures, once performed only in hospitals, are being performed in physician offices and in outpatient care centers, such as freestanding ambulatory surgical and emergency centers. Accordingly, employment is expected to grow very fast in these places as health care in general expands.

Employment in nursing care facilities is expected to grow because of increases in the number of elderly, many of whom require long-term care. However, this growth will be relatively slower than in other health care industries because of the desire of patients to be treated at home or in residential care facilities, and the increasing availability of that type of care. The financial pressure on hospitals to discharge patients as soon as possible should produce more admissions to nursing and residential care facilities and to home health care.

Job growth also is expected in units that provide specialized long-term rehabilitation for stroke and head injury patients, as well as units that treat Alzheimer victims. Employment in home health care is expected to increase rapidly in response to the growing number of older persons with functional disabilities, consumer preference for care in the home, and technological advances that make it possible to bring increasingly complex treatments into the home. The type of care demanded will require nurses who are able to perform complex procedures. Rapid employment growth in employment services industry is expected as hospitals, physician offices, and other health care establishments utilize temporary workers to fill short-term staffing needs and as the demand for nurses grows, temporary nurses will be needed more often, further contributing to employment growth in this industry.

Overall job opportunities are expected to be excellent for registered nurses. Employers in some parts of the country and in certain employment settings report difficulty in attracting and retaining an adequate number of RN, primarily because of an aging RN workforce and a lack of younger workers to fill positions. Enrollments in nursing programs at all levels have increased more rapidly in the past few years as students seek jobs with stable employment. However, many qualified applicants are being turned away because of a shortage of nursing faculty. The need for nursing faculty will only increase as many instructors near retirement. Many employers also are relying on foreign-educated nurses to fill vacant positions.

Even though overall employment opportunities for all nursing specialties are expected to be excellent, they can vary by employment setting. Despite the slower employment growth in hospitals, job opportunities should still be excellent because of the relatively high turnover of hospital nurses. RN working in hospitals frequently work overtime and night and weekend shifts and also treat seriously ill and injured patients, all of which can contribute to stress and burnout. Hospital departments in which these working conditions occur most frequently - critical care units, emergency departments, and operating rooms - generally will have more job openings than other departments.

To attract and retain qualified nurses, hospitals may offer signing bonuses, family-friendly work schedules, or subsidized training. A growing number of hospitals also are experimenting with online bidding to fill open shifts, in which nurses can volunteer to fill open shifts at premium wages. This can decrease the amount of mandatory overtime that nurses are required to work. Although faster employment growth is projected in physician offices and outpatient care centers, RN may face greater competition for these positions because they generally offer regular working hours and more comfortable working environments.

There also may be some competition for jobs in employment services, despite a high rate of employment growth, because a large number of workers are attracted by the relatively high wages and the flexibility of the work in this industry. Generally, registered nurses with at least a bachelor degree will have better job prospects than those without a bachelor. In addition, all four advanced practice specialties - clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, and nurse anesthetists - will be in high demand, particularly in medically underserved areas such as inner cities and rural areas. Relative to physicians, these RN increasingly serve as lower-cost primary care providers.

Median annual earnings of registered nurses are about $58,000. The middle fifty percent earn between $48,000 and $70,000. The lowest ten percent earn less than $40,000, and the highest ten percent earn more than $83,500. Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of registered nurses are as follows: employment services pay around $64,000, general medical and surgical hospitals pay around $58,500, home health care services pay about $54,000, offices of physicians pay almost $54,000, and jobs in nursing care facilities pay close to $52,500. Many employers offer flexible work schedules, child care, educational benefits, and bonuses.

Because of the number of specialties for registered nurses, and the variety of responsibilities and duties, many other health care occupations are similar in some aspect of the job. Other occupations that deal directly with patients when providing care include licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, physicians and surgeons, athletic trainers, respiratory therapists, massage therapists, dietitians and nutritionists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and emergency medical technicians and paramedics. Other occupations that use advanced medical equipment to treat patients include cardiovascular technologists and technicians, diagnostic medical sonographers, radiologic technologists and technicians, radiation therapists, and surgical technologists. Workers who also assist other health care professionals in providing care include nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides; physician assistants; and dental hygienists. Some nurses take on a management role, similar to medical and health services managers.