May 8, 2022

While the health care industry added an estimated 34,300 jobs in April, only 900 of those jobs were in the skilled nursing sector.

The American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) called the data from the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report “a sight for sore eyes,” however, it’s still a far cry from recovering the 241,000 caregiver jobs lost over the course of the pandemic.

Physician offices, home health providers and hospitals saw the biggest bump among health care employees.

Physician practices added 9,800 jobs and home health providers hired 7,800 employees last month. Hospitals brought on 4,500 more jobs in April, but the sector still remains down nearly 100,000 jobs since COVID-19 began.

The long-term care industry in March lost 2,500 jobs — further deepening a labor crisis to a level not seen since 2007.

“Providers are doing everything they can to recruit and retain staff but we need government support to go further faster,” AHCA/NCAL said in an emailed statement. “It’s time for policymakers to invest in our frontline heroes and develop policies that will help recruit and retain hundreds of thousands of long term caregivers.”

“It is time to address the workforce challenges resulting from bad policy choices by elected leaders and decades of underfunding of government supported long-term care services. Staffing has got to be priority #1,” a LeadingAge spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The association of nonprofit aging services providers has proposed efforts to get out of the crisis that include: increasing compensation for frontline staff by increasing federal FMAP funding; expanding the applicant pipeline with training and apprenticeship programs; changing immigration policy to expedite the process for international nursing staff to get to the U.S. more quickly and address “price gouging” by staffing agencies.

Skilled nursing providers like Majestic Care have had to get creative to recruit and retain staff through efforts such as perfect attendance bonuses, employee discounts, and in some places, subsidized rent.

Majestic Care CEO Bernie McGuinness told Skilled Nursing News on a recent episode of the publication’s podcast Rethink that he and the leadership team launched the Majestic Difference, an employee focused benefits program.

“I’m hoping that the benefits and the things we continue to challenge ourselves [with] as an organization, I hope that they continue to make the difference for our care team members. I believe that’s how we have to respond to the pandemic,” he said.

Original article: https://skillednursingnews.com/2022/05/a-sight-for-sore-eyes-nursing-home-industry-adds-900-jobs-in-april/