report from The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), representing more than 14,000 nursing homes and assisted living communities across the country that provide care to approximately five million people each year, released a report today showing long term facilities are suffering from the worst labor crisis and job loss than any other health care sector. Nursing homes alone have seen its industry’s employment level drop by 14 percent or 221,000 jobs since the beginning of the pandemic.
While hospitals, physicians’ offices, outpatient care centers and other health care facilities have reached or surpassed pre-pandemic staffing levels, nursing homes and assisted living communities are still experiencing substantial job losses according to the latest October employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
AHCA/NCAL released a survey of long term care providers earlier this year showing that the labor crisis is worsening and impacting access to care for vulnerable seniors:
- 86% of nursing homes and 77% of assisted living providers said their workforce situation has gotten worse in recent months
- 58 percent of nursing homes are limiting new admissions
- 78 percent of nursing homes and 61 percent of assisted living communities are concerned workforce challenges might force them to close
