If you are a travel nurse who recently entered the job market, rest assured – the jobs are not gone! The travel nursing job market has been more volatile in the last three years than any other time. Between the pandemic, mass shifting within internal jobs, and hospital systems scrambling to recuperate from increased costs associated with market fluctuations, the travel nursing workforce is in a state of trying to rebalance.

Prior to 2020, average travel nursing pay packages ranged from $1,500 to $2,000 per week. Rates above this were only seen in states where it was difficult to be licensed, such as California, or for very short-term contracts, such as strike nursing.

During the pandemic, rates soared to three and four times that upper amount. Hospitals needed staff immediately and did not have time to wait around for a new hire to finish orientation. Travel nurses were the only answer, because they were able to hit the ground almost immediately after being hired.

Needless to say, this also caused a decrease in staff retention. Staff nurses who were being paid essentially the same as before the pandemic but working in much more dire conditions chose to leave their homes to travel. A lot of these new travel nurses included less traditional travelers, such as nurses who were married or had children back home.

As these higher rates continued to hang on, even the non-traditional travelers were finding it worthwhile to stay on the road due to the flexibility and high pay that travel nursing offers. For example, a working mom might be able to work nine months out of the year while her children are in school and save enough money to be able to take a full summer unpaid.

Hospitals had extra funding provided at state and federal levels during the pandemic. As Covid hospitalization numbers stabilized, the funding dried up and hospitals struggled to pay the higher subsidized rates. This was a struggle for nurses who were previously making life-changing money at the higher pandemic rates.

When people fear things slowing down, they typically want to work closer to home. This paired with the fact that nurses are burnt out and have extra reserves contributes to the growth we’re seeing in staff and per diem positions.

The Growing Market for Staff and Per Diem Jobs

“Going staff” can be a hard choice for travel nurses who are accustomed to the perks of travel nursing. However, most travel nurses will admit that at some point or another the chaos of travel life can get tiring, and everyone has moments where they start to feel out staff and per diem job options.

As the demand weakened for travel nurses, hospitals saw a nice opportunity to add to their permanent staff, and travelers didn’t want to take the risks associated with traveling, so the demand for staff and per diem increased. Hospitals came up with creative pay packages to entice them to come onboard, which benefited the nurses who wanted to be close to home because they were able to capitalize on those staff and per diem options.

What Does the Future Hold?

We’re seeing growth in the market. Due to the weakening in travel nursing demand, allied demand is growing as is per diem and staff. The market correction impacted mainly travel nursing.

What does this mean? Now that travel nursing has stabilized at pre-Covid staffing levels, we should see the normal staffing patterns we saw before the pandemic. As children go back to school, the typical illness patterns will drive normalized doctor visits and care at predictable levels.

Rest assured, the jobs are still out there and in demand but staff and per diem are the new growth leaders in today’s market.