Monday October 28, 2024
Healthcare Workforce Report
The ASHHRA Healthcare Workforce Report is based on extensive data from PwC’s Saratoga HR Benchmarking study and provides valuable insights into the current state of the healthcare workforce, helping you make informed decisions to enhance your organization's performance and patient care.
2025 Healthcare Workforce Report
A Holistic Report on Workforce Trends in Healthcare
This report summarizes key healthcare-specific findings derived from PwC’s Saratoga HR Benchmarking study, updated using the 2025 dataset. The annual Saratoga study generates over 30,000 benchmarks for over 1,000 metrics from data provided by hundreds of organizations; healthcare-specific benchmarks are categorized by hospital size, revenue and/or type of hospital. The report utilizes a combination of detailed metrics, trend analysis, and industry trends to provide perspectives for HR leaders within the healthcare industry.
The report is broken down into five key sections:
- Turnover
- Inclusion
- Recruitment Effectiveness
- Candidate Experience
- Compensation and Benefits
The benchmarks in these categories may help you understand the general trends and current situation of the healthcare workforce in the United States. Unless otherwise noted, numbers included within the report are median values from our 2025 study.
As you explore the report and identify specific data to make business decisions, please reach out to the Saratoga team at saratoga@pwc.com to find out how to become a Saratoga member and get access to the complete benchmark dataset.
Executive Summary
The healthcare workforce is navigating a period of profound change shaped by demographic pressures, persistent financial constraints, rapid technological adoption, and shifting employee expectations. Building on Saratoga benchmark data, this report examines workforce trends specific to hospitals and healthcare systems. While turnover rates have eased slightly since the pandemic-era peak, healthcare continues to experience higher-than-average churn compared to other industries. Coupled with persistent nursing shortages, uneven inclusion progress, and growing challenges in recruitment and candidate experience, HR leaders should adopt a data-driven and strategic approach to maintain stability and advance organizational performance.
Several key forces define the current healthcare workforce landscape:
- Persistent Retention Challenges: Turnover, particularly among early-tenure bedside nurses, continues to disrupt continuity of care and erode financial sustainability.
- Evolving Inclusive Priorities: Representation gains are uneven, with women and racially/ethnically diverse leaders underrepresented at the executive level despite strong middle management participation.
- Recruitment Under Pressure: Healthcare roles attract fewer applicants per requisition than other industries, making speed, candidate experience, and brand positioning crucial.
- Candidate Experience Gaps: Lengthy hiring timelines hinder hospitals’ ability to compete for scarce talent.
- Compensation and Benefits Realignment: Regional disparities, inflationary pressures, and increasing employee demand for nontraditional benefits are forcing HR leaders to revisit total rewards strategies.
- Technology as an Enabler: AI-enabled workforce planning, predictive analytics, and automation are reshaping how organizations approach retention, recruitment, and employee engagement.
Hospitals and healthcare systems that succeed in this environment can balance financial stewardship with strategic investments in people, harnessing data to guide decisions and aligning workforce strategies with the mission of patient care.
This report summarizes Saratoga benchmarks related to the current state of the healthcare industry workforce, based on responses from 127 organizations in the healthcare industry. All results are median values unless otherwise specified.
To access the complete set of benchmarks with all percentiles, please contact the Saratoga team at saratoga@pwc.com.
2024 Healthcare Workforce Report
A Holistic Report on Workforce Trends in Healthcare
This report summarizes key healthcare-specific findings derived from PwC’s Saratoga HR Benchmarking study. The annual Saratoga study generates over 30,000 benchmarks for over 1,000 metrics from data provided by hundreds of organizations; healthcare-specific benchmarks are categorized by hospital size, revenue and/or type of hospital.
The report is broken down into four categories:
- Turnover
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Talent Acquisition
- Compensation
The benchmarks in these categories may help you understand the general trends and current situation of the healthcare workforce in the United States. However, if you need specific data to make business decisions, please reach out to the Saratoga team at saratoga@pwc.com to get access to the complete benchmark dataset.
Executive Summary
Over the past few years, organizations across various industries have experienced multiple challenges: a global pandemic, international conflicts and accelerated technological adoption. During this time, organizations had to adapt with remote/flexible work and a period of increased turnover coined “the Great Resignation”.
For most industries, the disruption of the pandemic has dissipated with a noticeable decrease in turnover, resulting in many organizations shifting their focus to promoting internal mobility and reexamining their existing team structures. Amidst rapid technological advancements, evolving workforce expectations and ongoing economic uncertainties, HR professionals and business leaders are increasing their use of HR data to make decisions and constantly seeking data-driven insights to stay competitive.
The healthcare industry faces unique challenges, including the lingering effects of the global pandemic, rising costs and an aging population. These factors significantly impact workforce dynamics, making it important for HR leaders to rely on data-driven insights to navigate these complexities and maintain a competitive edge.
This report summarizes Saratoga benchmarks related to the current state of the healthcare industry workforce, based on responses from 109 organizations in the healthcare industry. All results are median values unless otherwise specified.
To access the complete set of benchmarks with all percentiles, please contact the Saratoga team at saratoga@pwc.com.