Jonathon P. Leider, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Brian C. Castrucci (
Health Aff (Millwood). 2023 Mar;42(3):338-348. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2022.01251.
Understanding the size and composition of the state and local governmental public health workforce in the United States is critical for promoting and protecting the health of the public. Using pandemic-era data from the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey fielded in 2017 and 2021, this study compared intent to leave or retire in 2017 with actual separations through 2021 among state and local public health agency staff. We also examined how employee age, region, and intent to leave correlated with separations and considered the effect on the workforce if trends were to continue. In our analytic sample, nearly half of all employees in state and local public health agencies left between 2017 and 2021, a proportion that rose to three-quarters for those ages thirty-five and younger or with shorter tenures. If separation trends continue, by 2025 this would represent more than 100,000 staff leaving their organizations, or as much as half of the governmental public health workforce in total. Given the likelihood of increasing outbreaks and future global pandemics, strategies to improve recruitment and retention must be prioritized.
了解美国州和地方政府公共卫生劳动力的规模和构成对于促进和保护公众健康至关重要。本研究利用 2017 年和 2021 年公共卫生劳动力利益和需求调查期间大流行时期的数据，比较了 2017 年的离职或退休意向与 2021 年之前的实际离职情况，比较了州和地方公共卫生机构工作人员之间的离职情况。我们还研究了员工年龄、地区和离职意向与离职的相关性，并考虑了如果这些趋势持续下去对劳动力的影响。在我们的分析样本中，2017 年至 2021 年间，州和地方公共卫生机构的近一半员工离职，而年龄在三十五岁及以下或任期较短的员工离职比例上升至四分之三。如果离职趋势持续下去，到 2025 年，这将意味着超过 10 万名员工离开他们的组织，或者相当于整个政府公共卫生劳动力的一半。鉴于未来爆发疫情和全球大流行的可能性，必须优先考虑加强招聘和保留的战略。
