By Abby Lombardi on January 18, 2012 in Health Care, Health Care - XLV.

Healthcare workers – especially Registered Nurses – saw the most online job ads across the United States last year. With high demand, many employers and recruiting agencies have found these jobs difficult to fill. In this post, we decided to look at average salary ranges in some of the cities with the highest and lowest volume of job ads for RNs, and how an advertised salary may impact recruiting conditions for that job.

In December 2011, more than 54,000 new job ads for Registered Nurses were posted online. About 76% of the job ads were posted by healthcare employers, while staffing and recruiting agencies represented about 24% of job postings. In addition, employers saw a greater year-over-year increase, placing 11% more job ads online compared to December 2010. Staffing firms declined, placing 28% fewer ads in December 2011 than in 2010. The 5 cities with the highest number of job ads for Registered Nurses during December 2011 were New York (New York), Dallas (Texas), Los Angeles (California), Tampa (Florida), and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania).

According to our Hiring Scale™, New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia are likely to experience the easiest recruiting conditions for Registered Nurses of the above locations. The talent pools in these 3 locations are larger than average, with as many as 17 qualified potential candidates in the workforce for every job advertised. (The nationwide talent pool consists of about 8 potential candidates per job ad.) Also, the average duration of an online ad for a RN job opening in these areas is 40 days (about 5.7 weeks) – which is even with national averages.

Hiring Scales for Registered Nurses in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles (Easier to Fill Locations)

Source: WANTED Analytics

In comparison, Recruiters in Dallas and Tampa are likely to find Nurse jobs more difficult to recruit. In these areas, the talent pools are smaller than average, consisting of just 5 potential candidates per job opening. This means that employers are likely to see a higher cost-per-hire and time-to-fill. In fact, in these 2 areas jobs are advertised for 6.5 weeks – almost one week longer than average.

Hiring Scales for Registered Nurses in Dallas and Tampa (Harder to Fill Locations)

Source: WANTED Analytics

How does the hiring condition of an area affect average salary range for a job?  Typically, locations with high demand for hard-to-fill positions will offer higher salary ranges to attract potential candidates. In this case, healthcare employers in New York historically place the most job ads for Nurses. The advertised salary range in New York is also one of the highest in the US, ranging from $79,050 to $90,500.  The average salary range in Tampa, however, is much lower and ranges from $65,350 to $75,000. This could be contributing to more difficult recruiting conditions and a longer time-to-fill for open job ads. What would happen if employers in Tampa advertised a higher salary that was closer to national averages? Would nursing jobs become easier and faster to fill?

Where do the salaries for your open job reqs fall on the salary range? Are you advertising more or less than national and local ranges? Determine the average salary range and the difficulty to hire for any job or skill set with the Hiring Scale™.

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