Are new California BSN graduates more likely to get hired out of state than in CA?

Brandee, this is such a relevant question to current nursing graduates. I wonder if there is a mis-match between graduating nurses and the jobs opportunities available to them in California? UC San Francisco has forecasted the nursing supply and demand in California. These projections are currently listed on the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) website. According to the California BRN website (2011), "the RN supply is forecasted to grow substantially more rapidly than the demand estimate based on hospital utilization." It seems that the projections by UCSF show an increased outflow of California RNs in the "short run" here in California. Here is the link of the UCSF forecast, http://www.rn.ca.gov/pdfs/forms/forecasts2011.pdf. Recently, the American Bar Association (ABA) Journal had an article about law schools reducing enrollment numbers directly related to the mismatch between the numbers of graduates and the numbers of jobs available (link to article available below). While the UCSF document stressed that once a shortage in RNs does hit California, it will remain for a longer period of time, I wonder if California nursing programs are facing similar issues to those law schools mentioned in the ABA Journal article. Did the media do this industry justice, in specifying the nursing shortage by types of settings and geographical regions? NPR is the only medium of which I have heard in the past five years that has further investigated the California nursing shortage in such terms. Link to the ABA article, http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/massive_layoffs_predicted_in_law_schools_due_to_big_drop_in_applicants/?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly_email.

Brandee- I was the lead author for those forecasts referenced above. And right now, the job market for new grads is pretty tough. We also have some reports posted of surveys of employers. It is beginning to look like employers are seeking experienced nurses, and some are even reporting difficulty hiring nurses for specific units/specialties. This pattern typically is a sign that a more general shortage - or at least a more balanced labor market - is on the way. We're analyzing the 2012 survey of RNs for California now and that should be posted soon. Many more recent graduates are reporting they are unemployed than in 2008 and 2010...