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Editorial
Health care looks like safe bet for a future career
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Do you have a young person trying to choose a career? Looking to change careers yourself?
If you have the aptitude, you’ll find yourself in demand if you can become a doctor or pursue many other types of medical careers.
Thanks to aging baby boomers requiring more medical care, and an increased number of retirements, the demand for physicians and other health-care workers is expected to boom.
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the physician shortage in the U.S. will only grow worse. It estimates a shortfall of 34,600 to 88,000 doctors by 2025, and anywhere from 40,800 to 104,900 by 2030.
By the latter year, the number of doctors over the age of 65 will grow by 55 percent.
There will be a shortage of between 7,300 and 43,100 primary care physicians by 2030. But the situation will be even worse among specialists, which will have a shortage of 33,500 to 61,800 physicians, including 19,800 to 29,000 fewer surgeons than needed.
Regardless of how the current debate over health care turns out, healthcare is bound to change through the use of technologies such as telemedicine, virtual care, self-monitoring, group monitoring and smartphone apps.
Some worry that the Trump administration’s immigration policies might disrupt the flow of foreign physicians that now helps fill the gap.
CareerBuilder estimates there will be a 25 percent hike in demand for physical/occupational/speech therapy, 24 percent for home health care, 24 percent for retirement centers.
Other predictions include a 32 percent hike in online retailing, 28 percent for translation services, 20 percent for telemarketing bureaus or other customer contact centers, 20 percent for marketing consulting, 19 percent for environmental/conservation organizations, 19 percent for computer system design and 18 percent for portfolio management.
Things can change, of course, and gone are the days when the average worker sticks with one job for an entire career.
But the medical field looks to be a safe bet for anyone seeking rewarding employment for as far as can be predicted today.