Employment at life plan/continuing care retirement communities remains 5.90% below pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report from Fitch Ratings.
The ratings agency’s September 2024 dashboard highlights ongoing workforce challenges in long-term care, with skilled nursing facilities facing an even steeper 7.27% decline in staffing since February 2020.
The report indicates that although assisted living communities and the private sector have surpassed their pre-pandemic employment figures, CCRCs and SNFs continue to grapple with labor shortages and increased costs. This trend occurs despite demographic shifts favoring long-term demand growth for aging services, as the youngest members of the Baby Boom generation are set to turn 65 by 2030.
Fitch’s analysis reveals a stabilization in wage growth across the sector, however. Year-over-year average hourly earnings growth for CCRCs stood at 5.29% in July, down significantly from their peak of 12.47% in January 2022. Similar decelerations were observed in assisted living communities and SNFs.
The healthcare and social assistance sector’s job openings rate has shown improvement, declining from 7.9% in January to 6% as of July. This figure remains elevated compared with the 4.2% average rate from 2010 to 2019, however, indicating persistent labor shortages.
Employee retention also appears to be improving, Fitch noted, with the sector’s quits rate decreasing from a recent peak of 2.9% in May 2023 to 2.3% as of July of this year. Nevertheless, Fitch said, this rate remains higher than the 1.6% average observed from 2010 to 2019.
As the industry continues to recover from pandemic-related disruptions, Fitch suggests that service providers will need to develop enhanced strategies to boost their workforce pipeline and address ongoing staffing challenges.
