Women's Bureau (WB) - Statistics on Registered Nurses

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November 4, 2008 DOL Home > Women's Bureau > Quick Facts on Registered Nurses

Quick Facts on Registered Nurses

Registered Nurses (RNs) were the largest healthcare occupation in 2005, with employment of over 2.4 million jobs.

Job opportunities for RNs in all specialties are expected to be excellent. Employment of registered nurses is expected to grow much faster than average for all occupations through 2014.

Registered nurses are projected to create the second largest number of new jobs among all occupations between 2004 and 2014, increasing by 29.4 percent.

Women comprised 92.3% of RNs in 2005.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2005, 10 percent of all RNs were black, 6.4 percent were Asian, and 4.3 percent were Hispanic.

BLS also projects that total job openings due to growth and net replacements will result in 1.2 million job openings for RNs alone by 2014.

Earnings of RNs are above average. The median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers employed as RNs were $935 compared to $651 for all workers in 2005.

Souce: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.