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Nurse, Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational
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| Related Jobs |  | Technologist, Surgical, Dental Hygienist, Optometrist, Assistant, Physician, Technician, Emergency Medical, and Paramedic, Dentist, Orthodontist, Therapist, Respiratory, Aide, Psychiatric, Chiropractor |
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| Job Outlook | | Licensed practical nurses held about 749,000 jobs in 2006. About 26 percent of LPNs worked in hospitals, 26 percent in nursing care facilities, and another 12 percent in offices of physicians. Others worked for home health care services; employment services; community care facilities for the elderly; public and private educational services; outpatient care centers; and Federal, State, and local government agencies. About 19 percent worked part time.
Employment of LPNs is expected to grow faster than average for all occupations through 2016 in response to the long-term care needs of a rapidly growing elderly population and the general growth of healthcare. Replacement needs will be a major source of job openings, as many workers leave the occupation permanently. Applicants for jobs in hospitals may face competition as the number of hospital jobs for LPNs declines; however, rapid employment growth is projected in other health care industries, with the best job opportunities occurring in nursing care facilities and in home health care services.
Employment of LPNs in hospitals is expected to continue to decline. Sophisticated procedures once performed only in hospitals are being performed in physicians’ offices and in outpatient care centers such as ambulatory surgical and emergency medical centers, largely because of advances in technology. Consequently, employment of LPNs in most health care industries outside the traditional hospital setting is projected to grow faster than average.
Employment of LPNs is expected to grow much faster than average in home health care services. Home health care agencies also will offer the most new jobs for LPNs because of an increasing number of older persons with functional disabilities, consumer preference for care in the home, and technological advances that make it possible to bring increasingly complex treatments into the home.
Employment of LPNs in nursing care facilities is expected to grow about as fast as average because of the growing number of aged and disabled persons in need of long-term care. In addition, LPNs in nursing care facilities will be needed to care for the increasing number of patients who have been discharged from the hospital but who have not recovered enough to return home. However, changes in consumer preferences towards less restrictive and more cost-effective care from assisted living facilities and home health care agencies will limit employment growth. |
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| More Information | | National Federation of Licensed Practical Nurses, Inc., National League for Nursing, National Association for Practical Nurse Education and Service, Inc. |
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| References | | Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition, Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos102.htm
O*NET OnLine, on the Internet at
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