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Demand for Occupational and Physical Therapists Steadily Increasing

There have been countless reports on how the healthcare industry is continuing to thrive in the desolate job market of today. In comparison to other industries, such as financial services and manufacturing, healthcare has been quite steady through the recession and recovery periods. To further emphasize this fact, Forbes published an article discussing how the demand for therapists is likely to increase over the years as the current therapists grow old and retire.

According to the article, physical therapists are some of the most secure professionals in the healthcare industry and the job market as a whole. Furthermore, the supply of therapists isn’t keeping up with the demand, so a shortage of jobs for these professionals is one in 250. Eric Dickerson, managing director at Kaye/Bassman International, was quoted saying, “there are pockets within the US where there are only five therapists within a 100-mile radius.” When the demand for therapists is high, that number needs to increase nearly two-fold. As the current working therapists continue to age this shortage will only deepen, leaving an industry with a great demand for workers. “In 2000, 15.6 percent of PTs were between the ages 50 and 64; in 2010, 32 percent were in that age bracket, according to a report from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).” For those looking to get into the healthcare industry, or specifically find a job in therapy, this is great news.

On top of that, if the healthcare reform that many are pushing for goes through, the amount of uninsured Americans will likely decrease and the number of patients seeking occupational and/or physical therapy will increase. This is all good news for the healthcare industry and the job market in general. While the education level for therapists is pretty high, they tend to rack up larger incomes so their efforts are well rewarded in the end.

SOURCE: Forbes
IMAGE: Courtesy of United Physical Therapy

Nicole Nicholson

Nicole is the Content Editor for Spark Hire and mainly writes for and edits the work for the Spark News blog. She graduated in 2010 with a BA in Journalism from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. She has a passion for writing, editing, and pretty much anything to do with content. In her free time she frequents the Chicago music scene and writes reviews on shows for her own personal blog. Connect with Nicole and Spark Hire on Facebook and Twitter

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