EDITORIAL - Job market glut

The number of the unemployed currently stands at 230,000, and the number is expected to rise in the coming year. The alert was issued by the Professional Regulation Commission, and it refers to the growing ranks of unemployed nurses.

For several years nursing was seen as a sure ticket to a well-paying job overseas, improving prospects for alien residency and eventual citizenship in countries such as the United States. Even doctors took nursing courses to boost their employment prospects abroad. This led to an exodus of health professionals so serious it forced about a hundred private hospitals across the country to shut down.

Even the job market in health care, however, can be saturated. Warnings about a glut in global demand are apparently being heeded. The PRC’s Board of Nursing reported that enrollment in nursing courses is going down. The decline, however, may not be enough. This month’s licensure examination was taken by 68,000 nursing graduates.

As in any glut, this one is opening nurses to exploitation. Some hospitals, both government and private, are prepared to take in more nurses – but only if the nurses are willing to work without pay. In some cases the setup is mutually agreed upon; nurses simply want it on their record that they have worked for some time in a hospital. Labor officials said there is currently no law prohibiting this practice.

An alternative being pushed by the PRC is to train licensed nurses in entrepreneurship. Some of the graduates may need access to financing if this project is to take off. The government can also intensify efforts to inform prospective nurses about the high likelihood of being unemployed upon graduation. Most schools cannot be relied upon to give this information; many nursing schools mushroomed in recent years to meet the demand and may have to be shut down.

Programs can also be developed to put to use what the nurses have learned without depriving them of decent compensation. In a country that badly needs health professionals, it would be a waste to let nurses pursue other careers.