External Labour Market Factors

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Table of Contents

Executive summary
Introduction
External labor market factors impacting the HRP analysis
Conclusion
Recommendations
Reference List

Executive summary

The healthcare report analyses the external labour market factors that would impact the human resource planning in the near future. The Australia’s healthcare sector is currently being faced with high workforce shortages. The demand for the healthcare services has continued to increase as the number of the healthcare providers (supply) continue to decrease.

As a result a demand-supply imbalance has been created. There has been labor mobility as healthcare professionals are leaving the profession to other well paying jobs. As a result there has been an artificial shortage. The education system although being among the best. Lacks policies to encourage more students take healthcare related courses.

It also lacks policies that would be applied to tap healthcare graduates who end up working overseas. The sector depends on the ageing population which will retire soon and demand the healthcare services. It has been recommended that the industry need to co-operate with the government to address the issues. Policies need to be put into place to address the issues as soon as possible.

Introduction

The Australia’s healthcare industry plays a major role in the nation’s economy whereby the private and public expenditure account for 10% of the national GDP (Natalie, Clausen & Tania 2012). The healthcare sector is a complex industry is since individual players have to ensure that the safety and the wellbeing of patients are guaranteed.

Most importantly, the workforce in this sector is very vital as it oversees the wellbeing and the welfare of all nationals. For instance, both the public and the private workers in the healthcare industry play a critical role as the health of employees in other sectors solely depends on them (Natalie, Clausen & Tania 2012). Therefore, the issue of human resource management is very important in the healthcare industry.

The industry consists of nurses, doctors, dentists, psychiatrists, surgeons, clinicians, and therapists, among other healthcare professionals. In order for the healthcare industry to thrive well, it is important to meet the needs of the workforce.

This is achieved through the human resource planning (HRP), which is a process involving labor markets needs forecasting to ensure that organizations in that particular industry are able to meet the needs of the human resource (Deb 2006, p.86). In reference to the healthcare industry, HRP is critical as the industry is competitive and is often affected by external forces.

The aim of the paper is to compile a workforce planning report for the Australian healthcare Association. The report analyses the external labor market factors that could have an impact on the HRP of organizations in the healthcare industry. Moreover, the report gives viable recommendations that could be used by organizations in the healthcare industry to respond to the external factors.

External labor market factors impacting the HRP analysis

All organizations operate in an environment that influences the supply and demand of labor. This is the external environment in which an organization does not have an influence on. Specifically, the Australia’s healthcare industry is currently faced with increased workforce challenges (The Nielsen Company n.d).

Although the industry’s is diverse, the labor market is affected by numerous external factors that may also impact on the HRP of different organizations involved. Based on the labor supply and demand model, the Australian healthcare industry has workforce-services imbalance.

According to Segal and Bolton (2009), the demand for healthcare services is very high in Australia compared to supply of the services which is very low. There are few healthcare workers compared to the number of patients that require the services, and hence the imbalance (Stewart, Clark & Clark n.d). This implies that the country has a chronic shortage of healthcare workers required to meet the emerging needs of the Australian citizens.

Public policy drivers like training institutions and funded education systems influence the supply of healthcare in Australia (Segal & Bolton, 2009). For instance, most of the nurses in Australia are immigrants as the government has set policies that allow the employment of immigrants. The immigrants’ workforce is preferred because they can offer healthcare services at low prices compared to the locals (Eggert 2005, p.4).

For example, currently over 25% of the doctors working in Australia are overseas trained doctors who qualify as immigrants (Segal & Bolton 2009). ). Although the government has put in place policies that allow immigrants to work in the Australia’s healthcare industry, sooner or later, the immigrants will be assimilated into the system.

Like the Australian- born healthcare workers, the immigrants will soon leave because of the low pay and poor working conditions. This would create a workforce deficiency in the healthcare industry. Also, although Australia has the best education system in the world, the education system is not stable.

For example, nurses or doctors who graduate from the Australian medical or nursing schools end up working abroad where there is good pay and retention rate (Eggert 2005, p.4-5). Moreover, the number of the students taking up healthcare related courses in Australia has reduced over the last decade. As a result, the healthcare industry has been left to the ageing population for healthcare services.

The Australia’s healthcare industry is expanding as the number of the ageing population increases due to the fact that the ‘baby boomers’ generation is about to retire or has already retired (Australian Government Productivity Commission 2008, p.XVI). This implies that the services offered in this industry will be required at the near future at a much high rate (Bloom, Canning & Fink 2011, p.1-2).

However, based on the supply and demand of healthcare services in Australia, the demand for the services is higher compared to the services being offered (Manson n.d). For example, the increase in the ageing demographics implies that the demand for nursing services will definitely increase and so is the demand for registered nurses (Manson n.d; Jolly, 2007).

However, there is a problem as the number of the nursing workforce is declining on a daily basis (Doiron, Hall & Jones, 2008). The newly registered nurses are leaving the profession before their first five years are over, creating a deficiency.

This has created an artificial deficiency in the number of experienced nurses in industrialized countries like Australia because of decreased enrolment in nursing education, poor retention rates, poor working conditions, and poor pay (Doiron^,Hall & Jones, 2008). This has resulted to a low supply in the number of the nurses required to cater for the increasing population that require healthcare services.

Australia is among the best paying nations in Asia compared to its neighbors. For example, based on 2002 statistics, a nurse is paid an estimate of $ 24,485 annually which is high in the region (APHEDA, 2003). However, the labour market is becoming saturated as the number of nurses and other healthcare practitioners are moving to other regions is high (APHEDA, 2003).

The phenomenon has led to nursing brain drain where qualified healthcare professionals are migrating to other nations for better pay. With the number of the patients increasing in Australia, the healthcare professionals like nurses are reducing at a very high rate (APHEDA, 2003). This implies that the healthcare industry will be faced with workforce shortages in the near future if no critical measures are taken to reverse the situation.

Advances and changes in technology will more than likely have an effect on the Australia’s healthcare industry (Segal & Bolton 2009). Because of the sedentary lifestyles of many Australian urbanites, there will be an increase in the number of people who have lifestyles related diseases like diabetes and heart diseases which require the latest technology to treat these diseases.

However, according to Segal and Bolton (2009), the healthcare industry is not prepared because it lacks required amount of workforce to cater for the increasing demand for these services.

Labour mobility of employees in Australia healthcare system is an issue impacting the sector negatively. Most of the employees are leaving healthcare related professions and indulging in more paying jobs. This has been caused by “both decreasing enrolments in nursing education, and poor retention rates” (Doiron, Hall & Jones 2008). The number of healthcare professionals especially nurses is reducing in Australia.

Doiron, Hall and Jones (2008) point out that there has been a movement of healthcare workers from the public to the private sector which has better pay and retention policies and rates.

Shah and Long (2003, p.462) add that the emergence of part time jobs which are more paying have threatened the healthcare sector. Employees can easily shift from full-time employment to part-time employment. As a result, a workforce vacuum is created which threatens the sector.

Most of the organizations in the healthcare industry have done little to deal with the workforce shortages. The external labor market factors affecting the industry not only does it require the intervention of the organizations, but also requires the intervention of the government as it is the one involved in policy making.

To alleviate the shortage, the Public Sector Workforce Scheme (PSDWS) based on Act 2009 of the healthcare workforce has been introduced to become part of the Australian jurisdiction which would help in alleviating the current workforce shortages in rural areas (The NSW Department of Health, 2011). It will see healthcare workers being deployed to the rural areas to address the healthcare problems in these areas.

Conclusion

Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that the Australia’s healthcare industry workforce is declining at a very high rate. Also, the industry is being faced with an ageing population that is not being replaced immediately. As a result, the demand for healthcare services has increased as the supply of services decreases. This will affect the industry negatively.

The industry has many immigrants providing healthcare services as the Australian born healthcare providers have migrated to overseas where there are better pays and healthcare working conditions. The education system is faced with crisis as it trains healthcare providers who leave the country immediately after getting the degrees leading to brain drain.

Recommendations

It is recommended that the Australian government should collaborate with key players in the healthcare industry to put into place polices that would ensure that the demand for healthcare services and supply for services are met.

Since there is a high aging population in need of healthcare services, the government and the healthcare industry stakeholders should design policies that ensure that more Australian born nurses get employed in the healthcare sector as opposed to giving saucy opportunities to the immigrants.

Also, the education systems should be revised and design a mechanism that can be used to create self-awareness among the students to partake healthcare related courses like medicine and nursing. This would ensure that the demands for the healthcare services are met in the future.

Subsequently, it would be possible to replace the ageing population as it retires with ease hence promoting healthcare services provision in Australia. There is need to put into places policies that ensure that Australian born healthcare professionals are well compensated and offered better retention rates.

Reference List

APHEDA 2003, Global nursing industry comparative. Web.

Australian Government Productivity Commission 2008, Trends in aged care services: Some implications. Web.

Bloom, D. E., Canning, D. & Fink, G. 2011, Implications of Population Aging for Economic Growth, Working Paper Series, Harvard School of Public Health.

Deb, T. 2006, Strategic Approach to Human Resource Management, New Delhi, Atlantic Publishers & Dist.

Doiron, D., Hall, J., & Jones, G 2008, Is there a crisis in nursing retention in New South Wales? Australia and New Zealand Health Policy 2008, vol. 5, no.19. Web.

Eggert, M. 2005, Impact of the nursing crisis on the health workforce: Submission to the productivity commission health workforce enquiry. Web.

Jolly, R. 2007, Practice nursing in Australia. Research Paper no. 10 2007–08. Web.

Manson, M. n.d, Developing clinical competence: Across a diverse skill mix with a professional recognition program. Web.

Natalie, J., Clausen, H., & Tania, S. 2012, Healthcare industry: GS1 Australia 2012 healthcare events calendar. Web.

Segal, L. & Bolton, T. 2009, Issues facing the future healthcare workforce: The importance of demand modeling, Australia and New Zealand Health Policy, vol.6, no.12, Doi:10.1186/1743-8462-6-12.

Shah, C. & Long, M. 2003, Employment Changes and Job Openings for New Entrants in Nursing and Caring Occupations in Australia, Australian Journal of Labour Economics, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 453 – 472.

Stewart, J., Clark, D., & Clark, P. F. n.d, Migration and recruitment of healthcare professionals: causes, consequences and policy responses. Web.

The Nielsen Company n.d, Healthcare and Pharmacy. Web.

The NSW Department of Health 2011, The public sector dental workforce scheme in NSW. Web.

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