The number of nurses ready and able to work in Australia grew 14 per cent after 2005, but the number of nurses working grew only 13 per cent, Australian Nursing Review reports.
In 2009, 276 751 or 86 per cent of registered and enrolled nurses in Australia were actually employed in nursing, 13.3 per cent more than in 2005, according to an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report released last month.
However, the survey also showed that nationally in 2009, 14,500 registered and enrolled nurses were unemployed but looking for work.
On average, those in the nursing workforce worked 33.3 hours per week, a slight increase on 2005. “This at least partially reflects fewer nurses working part-time in 2009,” said AIHW spokesperson David Braddock.
31,000 nurses reported having a second job, working on average an additional 12.6 hours.
The average age of employed nurses was 44.3 years. However, the nursing workforce is an ageing profession, with the age profile of nurses shifting toward the older age groups in recent years.
In 1999, the 40–44 years age group included the greatest number of nurses. By 2009, it was the 50–54 years age group that included the most nurses.
Regionally, very remote areas had the highest supply of employed nurses and major cities had the lowest.
Nursing continued to be a female-dominated profession, with only 9.6 per cent of nurses being male in 2009, up from 7.9 per cent in 2005.
In 2009, there were 1605 employed nurses who identified themselves as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, representing 0.6 per cent of nurses for whom indigenous status was provided.
The report’s findings were based on data collated from the AIHW’s annual Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force survey in 2009.
