Recently-Graduated Registered Nurses Unwanted by Employers

Job vacancies may not come for a few years

Registered nurses who have recently graduated are facing a major obstacle when trying to get hired, namely that thousands of job postings ask: "no new grads." About 43 percent of newly licensed RNs still do not have jobs within 18 months after graduation. The recession is to blame, said Peter Buerhaus, a registered nurse and economist. Prior to it, about 73,000 nurses left the profession each year due to childbearing, retirement, burning out or death. But when the recession hit, spouses lost jobs and 401(k)s lost money, so fewer nurses chose to leave work. Additionally, enrollment in nursing colleges has dramatically increased; 169,000 people were enrolled in the 2010-2011 school year -- that's more than double the students from a decade earlier. Still, economists predict a massive nursing shortage will reemerge in the United States as older nurses start retiring and the demand for health care services is expected to climb. (CNN)

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