In a survey result from LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index, 56% of healthcare workers are considering or actively pursuing work in other industries. The survey compiled results from more than 14,500 US-based LinkedIn members across 12 different industries, including Healthcare. For those US jobseekers surveyed who are considering or actively pursuing a switch to a different industry, earning more in a new role was their most common priority. In an analysis of the overall results, however, it’s clear that more than 50% of job seekers in most industries surveyed, except for Legal, Hardware and Networking, and Energy and Mining are all seeking better compensation, so a switch in field may not result in a more favorable financial outlook.
The Workforce Confidence Index surveyed members in the following industries and calculated the percentage in each field who were seeking better compensation:
- Entertainment – 69%
- Wellness and Fitness – 67%
- Retail – 64%
- Education – 63%
- Media and Communications – 60%
- Software and IT Services – 57%
- Healthcare – 56%
- Recreation and Travel – 55%
- Finance – 54%
- Legal – 48%
- Hardware and Networking – 47%
- Energy and Mining – 47%
The 56% of Healthcare job seekers seeking better pay matched the average across all industries in the survey. Other considerations for leaving a field, including personal values, better opportunities for advancement, and more flexible hours, ranked lower.
A related University of Minnesota study from around the same time as the Workforce Confidence Index found that physicians are leaving the field at a rate four times higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. This mirrors the results in the Workforce Confidence Index, where the fields with the highest percentage of respondents seeking better compensation, including Entertainment, Wellness and Fitness, Retail, and Education were particularly impacted. The pandemic created a particularly challenging mix of pay cuts, job losses, and harsh working conditions in each of those industries.
