Implications of an Aging Registered Nurse Workforce

Abstract

Registered nurses (RNs) comprise the largest group of health care professionals in the United States, with more than 2.0 million RNs employed in health care organizations in 1998.¹ This profession has experienced substantial changes during the last decade.^2-8 However, little attention has been given to the change in the age structure of the RN workforce. Data from the Census Current Population Survey (CPS) show that between 1983 and 1998 the average age of working RNs increased by more than 4 years, from age 37.4 to 41.9 years.¹ During the same time period, the proportion of the RN workforce younger than 30 years decreased from 30.3% to 12.1%, and the actual number of working nurses younger than 30 years decreased by 41%. In hospitals, the average age of RNs increased by 5.3 years between 1983 and 1998.⁹ In contrast, the average age of the US workforce as a whole increased by less than 2 years during this period (age 37.4 to 39.0 years), while the total labor force in the United States younger than 30 years decreased by less than 1%.