To better prepare for the projected demand for more than 200,000 more nursing professionals in the next decade, the U.S. Department of Labor is offering $80 million in grant funding for nurse-training programs, the agency announced last week.
According to projections by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. needs 275,000 additional nurses by 2030, the DOL states in its Oct. 4 grant announcement. The BLS predicts nursing employment opportunities to increase nine percent by 2026, a growth rate larger than any other occupation, the DOL reports.
"The unprecedented demands that the pandemic placed on the nation’s nurses," the DOL states in the announcement, "combined with retirements and an aging workforce, have greatly increased the need for nursing workers in the U.S."
The Nursing Expansion Grant Program supports training programs that increase the number of practicing nursing professionals "while advancing equity and creating pathways for workers to fill these jobs and improve the nation’s healthcare system," the DOL states. The H-1B skills-training grants affirm skills training for people in under-served and under-represented populations, in order to provide employment equity.
Applicants are instructed to include proposals for training programs that appeal to workers and also to unions and worker organizations as well as employers. Nursing Expansion grants support public- and private-sector partnerships that develop pathways for a diverse range of workers to enter nursing professions and upgrade the nation's healthcare system, the DOL states.
“Many healthcare workers, nurses among them, have worked around the clock throughout the pandemic to care for those in need and save countless lives," DOL Sec. Marty Walsh says in the announcement, "often while risking their own health and well-being.”
“Today, they face diminished ranks of colleagues to help shoulder these burdens as patients continue to depend on them," Walsh said. "The funding opportunity announced today will support training and other programs to help advance workforce equity while bringing more nurses into the industry.”
