Opinion: Connecting workers to health care careers is critical
There are more job openings than workers in most parts of the country, and in cities like Austin, where the unemployment rate hit a pandemic-low of 2.5% in May 2022, the need for workers is essential. And this trend is even more worrisome for the health care industry. A regional analysis done in October 2021 found that only 2,503 unemployed and qualified workers were available to fill 8,388 health care positions.
In our recent report, titled Keepers of a Healthy Heartland: Strategies for Building a Robust Health Care Workforce, we took an in-depth look at 10 health care professions that need only a bachelor’s degree or less in five communities in the heartland to understand the challenges and innovations necessary to fill these jobs. Chief among our recommendations is that policymakers and workforce developers must build partnerships to ensure adequate pipelines of allied and non-physician health care workers.
Coordinating among entities that supply workers can be daunting. However, Austin is one of the metropolitan areas that is doing this well – and the city’s success can be an example for other communities looking to shore up their economic futures in the heartland and beyond.
Take for example Workforce Solutions Capital Area (WSCA), which helps fill entry-level positions and provides upskilling opportunities so that students can progress to nursing jobs.
It joins other Austin-area groups doing excellent work. Capital Idea helps low-income, nontraditional students use postsecondary education as a path to career advancement and success. It provides access to training, as well as support services needed to ensure its trainees – about 78% of which are women, while 54% are Hispanics and 22% are Black – succeed in moving from entry-level positions to pursue higher-paying nursing jobs.
Similarly, the Central Texas Allied Health Institute (CTAHI) works with low-income communities to train residents in the health care field. CTAHI also reimburses a student’s monthly utility bills, provides hot dinners for students and their families and helps with child care, tuition, book costs and transportation.
These and other interventions are much needed if we are going to succeed in moving people into high-demand jobs that provide middle-class incomes.
We needn’t only focus on those already in the workforce. Austin Community College (ACC), for example, works with local school districts to develop talent among predominantly low-income and ethnic minority populations from East Austin. Most classes take place in high schools, but students also visit the ACC campus for simulated clinical experiences. For entry-level positions, such as in phlebotomy, high school students graduate with a certificate and can move into jobs immediately. Encouraging and enabling these students to find a job and career helps many escape poverty.
Still, Austin has challenges. The cost of living is 19% more than the U.S. average, and it remains difficult to recruit people to train for lower-paying jobs, such as home health aides and medical assistants. Additionally, major barriers to full employment in this sector include a lack of educators to train these new workers and few clinical opportunities for trainees and students to get hands-on experience.
Despite these obstacles, Austin and other communities in the heartland must seize this opportunity to reimagine the system.The need to balance supply and demand is more critical than ever. And as the baby boom generation ages, it puts pressure on the system in two ways: there is more demand for its services and a decreasing supply of health care professionals.
As the Austin-area organizations already doing this work show, it is not impossible and partnerships are critical. This work is crucial for Austin and other heartland communities to realize our economic potential.
DeVol is president and CEO of Heartland Forward, which advocates for solutions to foster job creation, economic growth and improved health outcomes.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Opinion: Austin an example in connecting workers to health care careers
