Onal Sezen O, Martin Skky, Weiss Nicole M, Leider Jonathon P
Center for Public Health Systems, Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States.
NORC at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60603, United States.
Health Aff Sch. 2024 Sep 17;2(10):qxae116. doi: 10.1093/haschl/qxae116. eCollection 2024 Oct.
The US public health workforce has markedly declined, falling from 500 000 individuals in 1980 to 239 000 by 2022, a trend exacerbated by economic instability and an aging demographic. There was a temporary surge in staffing through emergency hires during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the permanence of these positions remains uncertain. Concurrently, public health degree conferrals have sharply increased, creating a mismatch between the growing number of graduates and the actual needs of health departments. This study analyzes the distribution of the potential public health labor supply within a 50- and 150-mile radius of health departments, revealing a significant regional imbalance. Most regions experience substantial differences in the concentration of public health graduates when accounting for population size, reflecting geographic disparities in workforce distribution. These findings underscore the necessity for structured partnerships between health departments and educational institutions and advocacy for adaptive policy changes to align educational outputs with labor market demands, essential for a resilient public health workforce.
美国公共卫生工作队伍显著减少，从1980年的50万人降至2022年的23.9万人，经济不稳定和人口老龄化加剧了这一趋势。在新冠疫情期间，通过紧急招聘出现了人员配备的临时激增，但这些职位的持续性仍不确定。与此同时，公共卫生学位授予数量大幅增加，导致毕业生数量不断增长与卫生部门实际需求之间出现不匹配。本研究分析了在卫生部门半径50英里和150英里范围内潜在公共卫生劳动力供应的分布情况，揭示了显著的区域不平衡。在考虑人口规模时，大多数地区公共卫生毕业生的集中度存在很大差异，反映出劳动力分布的地理差异。这些发现强调了卫生部门与教育机构之间建立结构化伙伴关系的必要性，以及倡导适应性政策变革以使教育产出与劳动力市场需求相匹配的重要性，这对于一支有韧性的公共卫生工作队伍至关重要。
