[PEN-L:4501] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

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BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  In December 1998, there were 1,608 mass layoff actions by
employers as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits
during the month.  Each action involved at last 50 persons from a single
establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 190,070.  The
number of layoff events was about the same as a year earlier, but the number
of initial claimants for unemployment insurance was higher in December 1998
than in December 1997.  The total of layoff events from January through
December 1998 and the total number of initial claimants were higher than in
1997. ...   

The nation's hospitals are experiencing a shortage of registered nurses,
especially the specialized, highly trained nurses who staff operating rooms,
emergency rooms, intensive care units, and pediatric wards for high-risk
babies.  Driven in part by an aging population and the turmoil in managed
care, the shortage began a year ago in California, and this year it has
touched nearly all acute-care hospitals, where patients go with strokes,
heart attacks, and major surgery and that employ nearly two-thirds of all
registered nurses. ...  "This shortage appears to be a new and different
type," said a report last month of a survey of 338 acute-care hospitals.
The report, sponsored by the American Organization of Nurse Executives, a
subsidiary of the American Hospital Association, was conducted in
collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services and the
American Nurses Association.  "Previous shortages," the report said, "have
been about sufficient numbers of nurses, while this shortage appears to be
about an increased demand for nurses with competence, skills, and experience
to meet patient demand for care in a changing health care system." ...  "And
we are at the verge of a very serious shortage related to the aging of the
work force," says a director of nursing for a large health maintenance
organization.  The average age of nurses is 45, about a decade older than
the average for the population.  They will be retiring with the baby
boomers. ...  Not only is the flow of young people into nursing diminishing,
so is the quality of the candidates. ...  Hospitals are seeking women who
have left nursing to rear children, as well as full-time nurses who can be
lured into extra part-time assignments with wages of $30 or more an hour.
....  (New York Times, page A14).


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