Across the United States, workforce shortages are deepening. Essential sectors like health care and education have been particularly hard-hit, with critical staffing gaps affecting hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and other key institutions across the country. At the same time, more than two million immigrants and refugees who have at least a bachelor’s degree are unemployed […]
Forced to flee Myanmar because of political persecution, Win Mar Lar Kyin eventually resettled in Oregon, leaving her family behind. Since then systemic barriers, including the lack of recognition of international credentials, have prevented Win from resuming her career as a primary care physician—despite having 12 years of experience practicing medicine in Myanmar. “With my […]
[An earlier version of this blogpost was published on October 10, 2022.] When Lubab Al-Quarishi was forced to flee Baghdad with her family in 2014, she had been a practicing, licensed pathologist for 18 years in Iraq. Since her resettlement in the United States, Lubab has worked in food service and as a pharmacy technician. […]
Over the past several decades, staffing shortfalls have imposed dramatic negative effects on Maryland’s health care system, including increased hospital readmission and higher mortality rates among patients. But new legislation in Maryland may offer some hope. States Face Critical Health Care Shortages Statistics confirm Maryland’s current health care shortages: In 2020, the state had only […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the existing strains on the U.S. health care system and underscored the critical need to integrate qualified immigrants and refugees into the health workforce. Across the country, an estimated 263,000 immigrants and refugees with health care training are unable to obtain licensure in the U.S. Of these, 165,000 people earned their credentials outside the U.S. but must meet onerous, time-consuming, and costly requirements, including […]
Immigrant doctors, nurses, and pharmacists make up more than 16 percent of health care staff in the United States. Another 263,000 immigrants with undergraduate health care-related degrees are in low-skilled jobs or are unemployed, a majority of them holding international credentials, per the Migration Policy Institute. The current crisis underscores the need to open pathways […]
Momentum is mounting across the country to remove barriers to licensure for immigrants and refugees with international health care credentials. To date, six states—New Jersey, Nevada, Colorado, Michigan, New York, and Massachusetts— have issued executive orders to address health care shortages arising from the COVID-19 crisis by adjusting licensing requirements to allow internationally trained health […]
