Survey: Nursing workforce diversity up, job satisfaction down

The nursing workforce is becoming more diverse and highly educated, but less satisfied with their job, according to the latest National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, conducted by the Health Resources and Services Administration between December 2022 and April 2023. Black and Asian RNs now constitute 11% and 9% of the RN workforce, respectively, compared to 8% and 5% in the 2018 survey. Over 45% of nurses entered the workforce with a bachelor’s degrees, up from 39% in 2018. While overall job satisfaction remains relatively high at 80%, the share of nurses who expressed some degree of dissatisfaction with their primary nursing position nearly doubled between 2017 and 2022 to 19.9%.

Hospitals remain the largest employer of nurses at 60%. About four in 10 registered nurses who left the nursing workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic said they intended to return to nursing, while two in 10 said they did not intend to return and the rest were unsure. If workforce patterns remain unchanged, the survey results suggest that demand for RNs in 2036 will exceed supply by 9%, resulting in a shortage of 337,970 full-time equivalent RNs, HRSA said.