As millions of people around the United States receive the vaccine for Covid-19, clinics are finding themselves short-staffed and in need of new employees.
To help fill the gap and to be able to provide efficient vaccination services, clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies have begun a hiring spree for long-term positions as nurses, managers, medical assistants, and more. While at first, these positions were likely seen as part-time or temporary offerings, most of the new positions posted by healthcare clinics are full-time and permanent.
With data from health organizations around the world suggesting that immunity to Covid-19 may not last forever, healthcare providers are hiring long-term employees to prepare for the potential resurgence of Covid-19 over the next few years. These job postings follow the employment boom for vaccine distribution workers earlier this year and signal that economic recovery in the wake of the pandemic is rapidly approaching.
The boom of new jobs in the healthcare industry will help speed the industry’s recovery as it lost nearly one million workers over the past year.
In addition to signaling economic strength for the healthcare industry, the boom in employment demonstrates how the US economy is well on its way to a complete recovery. Although the new healthcare jobs barely account for even a fraction of the jobs lost during the Covid-19 pandemic, they will pave the way for other employers to begin rehiring workers. The more efficient the vaccination process because of the new workers, the more quickly the rest of the economy can return to normal operations. In other words, the better and faster the healthcare industry recovers, the more quickly everything else will recover.
In addition to hopeful signs from the healthcare industry, government agencies are predicting a massive economic boom over the course of the year. The Federal Reserve has already indicated the GDP will grow by a staggering 6.5 percent — more than any year since Ronald Reagan’s first term as president in 1984. At the same time, Bloomberg Economics predicts that consumers are saving up to $1.7 trillion that they will be able to spend as the economy reopens. A more dire prediction from the PNC Financial Services Group says that the job market will not return to normal until the end of 2022.
Looking Forward
Although the rate of vaccinations around the country is increasing, and the healthcare industry is preparing for a potential resurgence of Covid-19, there is still some uncertainty about the timeline of economic recovery in the United States.
The ability to make a complete, fast recovery will depend entirely on the lasting effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccinations. While scientists are sure that the vaccines will last for approximately six months, there is not enough data to conclusively say when (or if) the vaccines will stop being effective.
The longer the vaccines stay effective, the more likely the United States will make a complete recovery over the next two years. If vaccines prove to be ineffective over the next several months, economic recovery will likely face significant delays and challenges.