Health care tops list of in-demand jobs

Region’s workforce participation nearly at pre-pandemic level

By Mark Sanchez

Health care ranks among the hottest of the hot jobs in West Michigan.

Nearly half of the 100 high-demand careers in the annual West Michigan Works! list of “hot jobs” for the seven-county region are in health-related professions that range widely from highly educated clinicians to administrative positions.

Health care has always ranked as a top career field for hot jobs, along with manufacturing, said West Michigan Works! COO Angie Barksdale. The showing in the 2023 list illustrates how health care continues to become a larger employer and economic force in West Michigan as health systems grow and the population ages, Barksdale said.

High-demand positions are across the board in health care, Barksdale said. Any position that “ends in tech,” whether a clinical position or administrative function such as in IT, is in high demand, she said.

“It’s just kind of a universal ‘fill in the blank’ and there’s a need,” Barksdale said.

A supplemental spending bill signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in March included $75 million for hospitals to recruit, retain and train workers. The Michigan Health & Hospital Association will distribute the funding through grants.

Citing member survey data, the MHA said hospitals across the state have more than 27,000 open positions, 8,500 of which are in nursing. Another 4,500 health care job openings in Michigan are for technicians and another 3,000 are for clinical assistants. Hospitals also have 1,700 job openings in support fields such as environmental and food services, according to the association.

“Maintaining the sustainability of our health care workforce is a universal priority for all Michigan hospitals and health systems,” MHA CEO Brian Peters said in a statement after the governor signed the supplemental spending bill.

The health care sector has lost talent over the last three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially nurses who opted to leave because of the stress and burnout. A University of Michigan survey involving 10,000 nurses found that nearly 40 percent wanted to leave their positions within a year, and more than 70 percent said they felt emotionally exhausted.

Cross-sector issue

The talent shortage that health care providers feel today affects most economic sectors. Addressing the issue needs to come on multiple fronts, including recruiting more talent to the region, Barksdale said.

“There is a population issue that we in Michigan in general, and West Michigan specifically, need to do a better job in recruiting people to work and live here,” she said.

Efforts also need to maintain a focus on bringing more people into the workforce and retaining young talent in West Michigan after they complete their education, Barksdale said.

The talent crunch of the last several years worsened in the pandemic, as thousands of people left the workforce.

“There are a number of employers in our region who are doing creative things in terms of that retention space,” Barksdale said. “You can’t just keep pumping (through people). You’re losing them just as fast, if not faster.”

Statewide, the civilian labor force as of February remained below pre-pandemic levels at 4.84 million workers, versus 4.95 million in February 2020, according to data from the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.

The labor force for the Grand Rapids metropolitan statistical area that includes Barry, Kent, Montcalm and Ottawa counties recently neared pre-pandemic levels and stood at 588,000 in February, just below the 588,900 in February 2020.

Some employers have responded with high pay, sign-on and retention bonuses, and by becoming increasingly flexible on work schedules, Barksdale said.

The practices reflect how employers in manufacturing and other sectors are adapting to a worker shortage and cultural influences among a younger generation that wants a greater balance between their work and careers and their home life.

That trend accelerated in the pandemic, Barksdale said.

“We are experiencing a culture shift of the work relationship. The pandemic has created this cultural shift that we have not seen in many, many generations,” she said. “The employers that are the most receptive, creative, and willing to try new things are going to be the most successful.

“It’ll be interesting over the next three to five years to see how it shakes out.”