Nurses in California, Other States Have Difficulty Finding Jobs

New nurses in California and other states are finding it increasingly difficult to land a job after graduating from nursing school, KPCC's "KPCC News" reports.

According to the National Student Nurses Association:

• About 25% of new nurses are unemployed four months after graduating; and
• About 13% are unemployed six months after graduating.

Reasons for Nurses' Difficulty Findings Jobs

David Auerbach, a researcher at RAND, said there are two main reasons that nurses are having trouble finding work:

• Nursing schools are accepting more students in expectation of a nursing shortage; and
• The economic downturn caused many older nurses to delay retiring.

For example, a RAND study determined that the number of nurses still working at age 69 has doubled since 20 years ago.

Wendy Sutherland, a Kaiser Permanente recruitment manager, said, "Unfortunately without a lot of people leaving or retiring it has created not enough openings for as many graduates that we have coming out." She noted that Kaiser has only been hiring about half or two-thirds the amount of nurses as it did in previous years, while the number of applicants has been "double to tripled."

Nurses Needed in Certain Areas

Experts say that rural areas and certain medical specialties are experiencing a nursing shortage and have a need for additional workers.

In addition, they note that the demand for nurses will increase -- in both rural and urban areas -- when older nurses who have delayed retirement actually begin to leave the field (Aguilera, "KPCC News," KPCC, 8/7).