As the last month of the busy winter season marches on, one of the main concerns circling around the travel healthcare community in recent weeks is the high amount of low-paying contracts advertised by recruiters or posted by agencies.

While there is a kernel of truth in those concerns, recruiters and agency sales representatives say that the answer is not so simple.

The travel nurse market is hot on both sides of the fence—healthcare facilities across the country have plenty of urgent needs, and lots of potential candidates are available and looking for work, said Oren Lavi, a director of client advisory for LiquidAgents Healthcare.

“The market is hotter than it has been in the last 24 months. The time to jump in is now,” said Oren Lavi, a director of client advisory for LiquidAgents Healthcare. “More jobs means more variety. Hospitals are not going to list premium pay packages unless they see the nurse pool drying up. For now, the candidate pool is consistent so they have no reason to raise rates.”

Some exceptions to this trend include northeastern states like Pennslyvania and New Hampshire, and Midwest states like Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. Similar to our January predictions, cold weather is keeping seasonal travelers away, which mean travelers are more likely to find premium pay packages—$1,800 and up per week before taxes—in these areas.

Additionally, most of the northern and Midwest states where bill rates have remained consistently high over the winter also saw a spike in traveler job applications in January, according to StaffDNA job board data.

Travel Healthcare Job Market for February 2019

Here’s a quick breakdown of the states and travel healthcare job specialties that are most-in-demand now and are expected to stay popular in February, according to data provided by industry sales and recruiting representatives.

• Arkansas
  • RN: Medical-surgical, telemetry, step-down/PCU
• Illinois
  • RN: Medical-surgical, telemetry, ER, labor and delivery
• Indiana
  • RN: Medical-surgical, telemetry. Much higher needs compared to January, close to 100 open positions as of February 8. Job submittals around Indianapolis close within 24 hours.
• Kentucky
  • RN: Medical-surgical, telemetry, step-down/PCU
• Missouri
  • RN: Medical-surgical, telemetry, ER (On the lower end, but needs are increasing). All core specialties in demand in St. Louis.
  • Allied: X-ray/radiology techs
• New Hampshire
  • RN: Medical-surgical, telemetry. Bill rates much higher than average.
  • Surgical Tech: OR
• Oklahoma
  • RN: Medical-surgical, telemetry. Job needs are filling very quickly.
• Pennsylvania
  • RN: ICU, OR, medical-surgical, telemetry
• Texas
  • RN: Medical-surgical, telemetry, step-down/PCU

January 2019 Top Markets

Editor’s note: This list is created by analyzing the number of travelers applying for jobs in these individual states and Washington D.C. This data is not necessarily a historical indicator of job volume. Application data comes from the StaffDNA jobs database.

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. California
4. South Carolina
5. Georgia
6. Pennsylvania
7. Tennessee
8. Arizona
9. Michigan
10. North Carolina
11. Indiana
12. Arkansas
13. Kentucky
14. Missouri
15. New Mexico
16. Oklahoma
17. Virginia
18. West Virginia
19. Iowa
20. Nevada
21. Oregon
22. Wisconsin
23. Idaho
24. Maine
25. Colorado
26. Alaska
27. Hawaii
28. Illinois
29. Ohio
30. Washington
31. Alabama
32. Louisiana
33. Massachusetts
34. Connecticut
35. Kansas
36. Mississippi
37. Maryland
38. Minnesota
39. New Hampshire
40. New Jersey
41. Utah
42. Vermont
43. Wyoming
44. Washington D.C.
45. Deleware
46. Montana
47. North Dakota
48. Nebraska
49. New York
50. Rhode Island
51. South Dakota