Empowering our future workforce requires transforming high schools
AMERICA’s healthcare system was experiencing a staffing crisis long before anyone heard the word “COVID,” but the pandemic supercharged it, by leading to many resignations and early retirements. Today, the system is more short-staffed than ever, even as it faces its next big shock: an aging population. Unless we get serious about addressing the shortage of qualified healthcare workers, the quality of medical care will suffer, and its cost will rise.
By 2030, all baby boomers will be 65 and older, and their longer life expectancies mean that the need for medical care will continue to rise. Yet there are currently about 2 million unfilled healthcare jobs. These include medical assistants, respiratory therapists, health information technicians and other roles — and an additional 2 million new jobs are expected by 2031, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
We cannot expect that the market will solve the labor shortage on its own. A big part of the reason hospitals and other healthcare providers cannot fill these jobs is that college graduates often look elsewhere for jobs, and high school graduates often are not prepared for them, because the jobs require levels of education and training that high schools do not provide.
This is a problem not only for healthcare systems, but for many young adults, too. Wages for high school graduates are often too low for them to save much money, especially for buying homes. This leaves many who wish to begin working upon graduation with an unappealing choice: Go to college and take on debt, or face severely restricted career prospects. Many of those who choose college don’t graduate and are left with loans that impede their ability to save and become homeowners.
Meanwhile, the current 2 million job openings in healthcare offer median starting salaries as high as $70,000, as well as opportunities for growth and advancement. So why aren’t American high schools preparing students for these jobs?
Too many political leaders pretend all students want to go to college. Students who seek to begin working immediately after high school often get shunted into antiquated vocational programs for jobs that are dying out. An overhaul of these programs is long overdue, to align them with both student interest and economic realities — and healthcare is the perfect place to start.
This week, 10 rural and urban communities across the country announced that they will create healthcare-focused high schools that serve nearly 6,000 students in total. The schools will provide education for ninth through 12th grades; beginning in 11th grade, students will also participate in work-based learning during the school week through hands-on, paid internships at partner hospitals — allowing them to apply what they learn in the classroom as well as gain access to a network of professional mentors.
Upon graduation, students will have the option to go straight to work at a partner health system. In addition, hospital partners have committed to subsidizing tuition for students’ ongoing education and providing job opportunities for students who successfully complete the graduation requirements of their respective programs.
This program, which Bloomberg Philanthropies is supporting, can serve as a model for other cities and states around the country, and it can apply to other high-growth industries, too, including information technology, advanced manufacturing and financial services. By giving students a head start on careers that offer opportunities for growth, they’ll reap the benefits for years to come — and so will our whole country. ■