Healthcare workers are increasingly confident that they chose the right career path with job security, according to a new poll.
Respondents posted a confidence level of nearly 60% in the third quarter of 2013, the highest since the Randstad Healthcare Employee Confidence Index began in early 2012. About 35% percent of those polled said the economy is growing stronger, up 9% from the second quarter survey.
Confidence about employment prospects also increased quarter-over-quarter, with more than six in 10 healthcare workers saying they believe they could find new jobs within a year, if they chose to do so. That is up from 56% in the second quarter of 2013, according to the online survey conducted by Harris Interactive.
Nearly a quarter of poll respondents believe more jobs are opening up, an increase from 20% in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, 44% believe there are fewer jobs available, down from 52%. The survey also found a slight uptick, to 31%, in the percentage of workers who said they plan to look for new jobs during the next year.
Workers’ view of a rosy future for their employers remained steady at 61%. That confidence reflected earlier findings from CareerBuilder’s 2013 Hiring Forecast, which found that 22% of healthcare hiring managers planned to add full-time employees in 2013.
The Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obamacare,” is one reason for the optimistic employment outlook in the healthcare industry, with the federal law expected to bring a wave of new patients with insurance coverage, according to Steve McMahan, president of Randstad Healthcare.
This demand means that healthcare companies must “work hard to attract top healthcare professionals by demonstrating the unique attributes that make their facility a great place to work,” McMahan said in a December statement.
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also support a positive outlook for the healthcare industry.
About 5 million jobs are projected to be added in the healthcare and social services sectors from 2012 to 2022, representing about one-third of the nation’s total job creation during that decade, the BLS reported in December.
Of the 30 jobs expected to have the largest growth, 14 are healthcare-related careers.
