Katie Adams , 2025-04-22 20:27:00
The nursing workforce crisis has improved slightly since the pandemic, but it’s far from over. New research from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) shows that nurses are still battling high levels of burnout and job dissatisfaction — and that many of them plan to leave the field because of this.
The report is based on a survey of more than 800,000 U.S. nurses. It found that nursing employment levels have rebounded slightly since 2022, with 87.7% of RN licensees and 70.6% of LPN/VN licensees now actively employed.
NCSBN’s research also found that more than 138,000 nurses have left the workforce since 2022 — and they report the same reasons for doing so as they did when NCSBN surveyed them two years ago: stress, burnout and retirement.
Looking ahead, the survey results showed that 40% of nurses have plans to leave the profession within the next five years. This raises concerns about what the country’s nursing shortage will look like in the future, especially as the population continues to get older and sicker.
For the past five years or so, burnout and the high workloads associated with inadequate staffing levels have been major factors leading nurses to exit the field, pointed out Brendan Martin, NCSBN’s research director. This new report revealed that workplace violence and inadequate salaries are becoming key factors as well, he noted.
These issues predate the pandemic, but they were exacerbated by it — and provider organizations are still coming up with strategies to solve these problems, Martin said.
But providers seem to have made some progress in this regard, Martin remarked, highlighting that older nurses seem to be returning to the workforce.
After a major drop during the height of the pandemic (2020–2022), the share of nurses ages 55+ in the workforce rebounded in 2024 — from a low of 31% in 2022 back up to 40%. More than 100,000 experienced nurses returned to the profession, Martin stated.
This trend suggests that working conditions have improved enough for many experienced nurses to feel safe and supported again, he declared.
“But there was a parallel trend with that — their significantly elevated intent to retire in the next five years. That’s where it gives us a little bit of a pause as we think about how sustainable this balance really is. Is this going to be a temporary phenomenon? Or is this going to be something that we can kind of bank on for workforce planning in the years to come?” Martin said.
He also pointed out that intent to leave the nursing world continues to be high across all age groups — not just older nurses. If this trend continues, it could lead to decades of lost labor from younger nurses and contribute to long-term workforce instability, Martin warned.
Recruitment isn’t the issue, he noted.
Between 150,000 and 200,000 nurses enter the workforce each year. In his eyes, the key challenge is retention, particularly among experienced nurses.
“The supply on the front end of the workforce funnel is very robust and very sustainable. What I think needs greater attention is retention of the current workforce — and that’s where you get into policies, at the employer level, federal level and state level, addressing things like workplace violence and bullying, salary, high workloads, low staffing, etc.,” Martin explained.
He views this moment as a cautious inflection point. There are reasons for hope, but only intentional, collaborative efforts — from providers, policymakers, regulators and educators — can make recovery durable for the nursing workforce.
Without that, the nursing staffing levels could reach crisis levels within a few years as retirements accelerate and unresolved job stressors persist, Martin said.
Photo: Hiraman, Getty Images
