2009 RN Spring Brief
HWS Workforce Vacancy Index & Recruitment Activity Indicators
Hospital RN vacancy rates are a great indicator of RN shortages in the market and an individual facility’s ability to address labor challenges. However, vacancy rates are often not disclosed so it can be difficult to assess if certain areas or facilities are facing greater challenges than others.
The updated HWS RN Vacancy Index and HWS RN Recruitment Activity Indicators fill this knowledge gap in the market. Modeled after a highly successful allied health vacancy tracking project developed by researchers at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research for the state of North Carolina and based on the empirically proven work of leading economists, the HWS RN Vacancy Index provides new insights into the health of the local labor market.
Based upon tracking publicly posted RN positions on hospital websites at six-week intervals in late 2008 and early 2009, this analysis provides an invaluable insight into vacancies at selected hospitals and aggregate RN job postings by specialty, setting, education and experience levels.
HWS’ vision for these vacancy tracking indicators is similar to that of the Case-Schiller Home Indices that we all keep hearing about in the news everyday. As health care labor shortages continue to become more acute, the LMP vacancy tracking indices provide an accurate barometer of the health of the local labor market and a means of comparison to other markets and across all of the most hard-to-fill health professions. Armed with this data, employers will not only have a valuable picture of their local market, but also strategic real-time insights into how they stack up against other organizations vying for the same talent.