CNA Employment
CNA employment volume comprised approximately 1.5 million jobs in 2008 and more in 2009.
CNA employment is expected to grow 18 percent between 2008 and 2018. It is much faster than the average for all other occupations, even though expected growth will vary depending on individual occupations. CNA employment for attendants, aides and orderlies is expected to grow 19 percent, which is faster than the average for all other occupations, basically in response to the growing long-term care needs of a rapidly increasing population of elderly people.
Financial pressures on nursing homes and hospitals to discharge their patients as soon as possible should and will boost admissions to most of nursing care facilities. As a result of this, there will be more new jobs in residential and nursing care facilities compared to hospitals, and growth will be particularly strong in nursing homes and community care facilities for the elderly. Current medical technology will also produce higher demand for certified nursing assistants, because the technology is able to save and extend more lives, and as a result it greatly increases the need for long-term care provided by CNAs.
However, CNA employment growth probably to be as fast as for other healthcare support occupations, in general because most nursing aides are concentrated in the much slower growing nursing and residential care facilities industry sector. Besides this, growth probably will be hindered by some nursing facilities’ reliance on government funding, which is not increasing as fast as the general cost of patient care. In most cases government funding affects CNA employment by limiting the number of CNAs nursing facilities can afford to have on staff.