Survey flags public health worker exodus due in part to COVID-19 impactOver 40% of the US public health workforce plans to leave their jobs within the next 5 years, and 51% said more staff were needed to respond to COVID-19, according to findings from a 2021 survey published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).Researchers from the de Beaumont Foundation and the University of Minnesota collected responses to the online 2021 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey of state and local governmental public health agency workers participating in the Big Health Cities Coalition and a national sample of local health departments from September 2021 to January 2022.Participants included 41,890 staff members from 47 state health agency central offices, 190 large local health departments, and 249 medium-sized local health departments.During the pandemic, 72% of respondents worked fully or partially in a COVID-19 response role.
Respondents were predominantly White (54%), women (79%), and older than 40 years (63%), and half had worked at their current agency for less than 5 years.
Of all respondents, 37% reported having a master's or doctoral degree, and 14% had a degree in public health.Forty-four percent of workers said they were thinking about leaving their jobs, including retirement, within the next 5 years, 27% said they were thinking about leaving their jobs for reasons other than retirement, and 76% said they began considering leaving when the pandemic began.In response to being asked what was needed to respond to COVID-19, in addition to funding, 51% cited more staff, followed by more support from the community (30%) and elected leaders (26%)."This finding is concerning, given a recent report that