The projected supply of registered nurses, 1990.

The number of employed registered nurses (RNs) in the United States stood at an all-time high of 1.3 million in 1980. This paper, using life table techniques, develops a population base of all living graduates from data on graduations from basic nursing education programs between 1928 and 1980, and estimates that there are some 1.9 million graduates now living. The number of graduates is projected to rise to some 2.4 million by the end of 1990, of whom 1.7 million will be active in the profession. Factors taken into account include recent increases in admissions, which rose from 79,000 in 1970 to 112,000 in 1980; the extent to which older women are entering the profession; the rapid growth of 2-year associate degree programs, which now account for half of all admissions; and increased labor force participation, with 68 percent of all living graduates in the labor force in 1980, compared to 60 percent in 1970. It is projected that the movement to advanced education among RNs will continue so that, by 1990, the proportion with baccalaureate or higher degrees will have risen from 29 to 36 percent of the employed RNs. By 1990 the largest number of active RNs will be in their 30s. Graduates with diplomas will have a median age of 45; those with associate degrees, 35; and those with baccalaureate or higher degrees, 32 years.