Record-high staffing shortages continue to challenge continuing care retirement / life plan communities, assisted living communities and nursing care facilities, and payrolls remain well below pre-pandemic levels, and job openings have reached all-time highs, according to Fitch Ratings latest monthly labor dashboard for the sector.
The healthcare and social assistance sectors saw a 236,000 decrease in job openings in recent months, according to the September ADP National Employment Report released in collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab. Nursing homes, however, still lag other healthcare settings in attaining pre-pandemic employment levels — employment there is 14.2% below previous rates.
“Many life plan communities, assisted living and nursing facilities are benefiting from smaller payrolls that reduced salaries and benefit expenses in recent quarters,” Richard Park, Fitch’s director of US public finance, said in a statement.
That unintended benefit cannot sustain the communities for the long term, Fitch noted, as average hourly wages are increasing at life plan communities, assisted living communities and nursing facilities. Providers can now expect to pay anywhere from $20.37 to $24.75 an hour, that is, wage growth ranging from 19% to 21% since early 2020.
“Life plan communities will need a strategy to respond to a permanently increased cost structure with some combination of increased entrance fees/monthly service fees and redesigned service delivery,” Park said.
