Brief Summary

I. Demographics of the Public School Teaching Population

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction licensing files were analyzed for the employed public school teaching population. The population of employed public school teachers in Wisconsin totaled 60,656 as of the 2002-2003 school year, of which 72 percent were females. The population is heavily skewed to the older cohort of 50-55 year olds where about 2,400 teachers per year of birth are employed in public schools, compared to the 25-30 year old population where teachers averaging 1,500 per year of birth are employed.

Very few teachers are employed into their sixties as evidenced by the steep cliff which occurs after ages 55 to 56. The earliest retirement age for those in the state pension system is 55 and it appears that many teachers choose this option. Assuming that the large majority of teachers will choose retirement at or near the age of 55, statewide annual replacement requirements will be about 1,000 a year short of those currently entering public school teaching.

Graph 1:

The gap is not uniform, however, with demand for elementary education teachers less in the Milwaukee metro area than in the balance of the state (where 6 elementary education teachers may be leaving for every 4 entering). Demand for secondary school teachers and other educational professionals is higher in both metropolitan Milwaukee and the balance of the state.

Recent proposals to change health care coverage and insurance co-payment requirements for retiring teachers may make the separation rates even higher. Unlike state employees, City of Milwaukee teachers retain the level of health insurance coverage they have at retirement for the rest of their life. If teachers remain in the system during this period when teachers' health insurance co-payments are increasing, their annual co-payment requirements in retirement will go up accordingly.

II. Demographics of the Registered Nursing Population

Considerable attention has been given to the shortage of registered nurses. Yet little attention has been paid to the pending baby boom effect which will make the problem much worse. Annual job vacancy surveys conducted in the metropolitan Milwaukee area by the UWM Employment and Training Institute for the Private Industry Council have documented the persistent high demand for registered nurses and other health professionals. As of October 2002 there were 813 full-time and 669 part-time openings for registered nurses. There were a total of 17,043 registered nurses aged 25-64 in the metro area as of June 2002, or 1 opening for every 11.5 registered nurses.

Again, in October 2003, the Employment and Training Institute job vacancy survey showed high demand for nurses. Health providers reported full-time and part-time openings for 1,256 registered nurses. High demand was also shown for other health care professionals, including openings for 572 nursing assistants, aides and orderlies; 513 health aides; 388 health technologists and technicians (including 151 health record technologists and technicians, and 107 radiologic technicians); 174 licensed practical nurses; and 76 physical therapists.

Statewide, a large number of nurses are in their forties while the number of nurses in their late twenties and early thirties is half that number per year of birth. In the Milwaukee metro area, there are about 660 RNs per year of birth among adults in their forties, compared to only baout 240 RNs per year of birth for nurses in their late twenties and early thirties.

Table 1:

Graph 2:

The looming impact of baby boomers who may soon be leaving the profession is worse in the balance of the state where the number of registered nurses per year of birth has dropped from about 1,500 for nurses in their forties to 600 for those in the their late twenties and early thirties.

Statewide, the nursing population remains almost all white (93 percent) and predominantly female (93 percent), and unlike the teaching population, a large portion (40 percent) work less than 36 hours per week. In the Milwaukee metro area 90 percent of RNs and 78 percent of LPNs are white.

TABLE 2:

Licensed practical nurses make up about 17 percent of the nurses in the four-county Milwaukee area, with 3,696 LPNs compared to 18,167 RNs on file as June 2002. African Americans are more likely to obtain LPN degrees, with 45 percent holding LPN rather than RN degrees (compared to 17 percent of whites holding LPN rather than RN degrees). The small number of African Americans and Hispanics completing nursing programs raises concerns about the future stability of this critical workforce. As of June 2002, among nurses in their mid-to-late twenties (that is born from 1975-1980), less than 60 RNs and LPNs were African American and less than 20 were Latina.

III. Changing Employment and Education Choices of Women

The number and percentage of females completing four or more years of post-secondary education have increased steadily over the decades. In 1970, 94,935 women aged 25 years and over in Wisconsin had four or more years of college, making up 8 percent of women 25 or over. By 2000, 389,841 women 25 years and over had a bachelor's degree or higher, making up 27 percent of those 25 years and over.

Despite the increasingly college-educated population, the number of both nurses and teachers by age has declined numerically and as a percent of total college-educated women. Thirty years ago women were more likely to seek out teaching or nursing as a profession. For the important 55-year-old group at which the teacher population peaks, 29 percent of college-educated women are teachers and 23 percent are nurses.

For females with a four-year college degree, the portions who are teachers drops from 17 percent for 45-54 year-olds to 10 percent for 25-34 year olds, while the percent who are nurses drops from 22 percent for 45-54 year-olds to 9 percent for 25-34 year-olds. (Note: These percentages are approximations since registered nurses do not necessarily have a four-year college degree.)

TABLE 3:

For more information, contact John Pawasarat, Director, Employment and Training Institute, School of Continuing Education, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 161 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 6000, Milwaukee, WI 53203. Phone 414-227-3380. Email eti@uwm.edu

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Updated 2009
Employment and Training Institute
School of Continuing Education
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Direct comments to: eti@uwm.edu