At 180-bed M.I. Bassett Hospital, the vacancy rate has fluctuated between 7 and 14 percent, Curran said. Curran cited a number of reasons. The average age of New York state nurses is 46. A large, graying population of baby boomers will require more chronic and acute care services.
More nurses are now in the work force than ever before.
And the job market for nurses has broadened, offering many jobs in non-hospital settings. There are other factors, too. Locally, for example, 128-bed A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital in Oneonta laid off workers in 1993, while reducing other positions to part time. That trend appears to have come to a halt more recently, as increased hospital admissions have made up for shorter stays. Bassett, Curran said, has maintained the same number of nursing positions for the last four years.