Registered nurse salaries are projected to increase over the next decade at a rate that surpasses the rate of increases for some other healthcare professions, according to the results of a recent study from TollFreeForwarding.com.
The website evaluated the future hourly earnings of 16 professions using the annual mean hourly earnings for each job from 2013 to 2022 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Using these historical data, the site forecast what people in each job would make every year from 2023 until 2033 using an Excel function.
Among the healthcare professions that were examined for potential wage changes over the next decade — such as RN, physician and dentist — when adjusted for the estimated inflation rate, RN was the only one expected to see growth by $12.82 per hour. Dentists’ wages, by comparison, are projected to decline by $13.72 by 2033.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, registered nursing is among the fastest-growing professions in the country, and skilled nursing facilities soon may have a pressing need for such professionals, given the minimum staffing mandate proposed in September by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. It calls for US nursing homes to ensure that each resident receives a minimum of 0.55 hours of registered nurse care and 2.45 hours of nurse aide care each day, although it is unclear when the rule could go into effect.
“To meet both the nurse aide and RN hours per resident day criteria and the RN 24/7 coverage, facilities will need to hire an additional 80,077 nurse aides and 22,077 RNs for a total of 102,154 [full-time equivalents],” according to an analysis by consulting firm CliftonLarsonAllen shared by the American Health Care Association. “If CMS only requires the RN 0.55 HPRD requirement, with no 24/7 RN coverage, a total of 19,880 RN’s would be needed.”
