Despite renewed optimism in the labor market, employers in the healthcare sector continue to face hiring challenges, according to iCIMS’ “Insights April Workforce Report,” released today.

According to the report, after robust hiring activity in February, employers showed renewed optimism in the market, with the highest job opening volume since the beginning of 2022. Hiring indicators in the healthcare industry mirrored the elevations seen in the overall market as health services applications rose 31%, job openings rose 16% and hires increased by 11% from January 2022.

However, despite experiencing a pronounced growth in applications, the report found that application volume in the sector continues to lag and remains barely above pre-pandemic levels. In addition, hiring challenges are more pronounced in nursing; applicants per opening for nursing-specific roles remain consistently low, at approximately nine applicants per opening.

The report also found that despite the complex, multi-layered process to hire nurses, the time to fill nursing roles remains on par with the overall labor market at 41 days, down from 48 days in January 2022.

“Healthcare workers have arguably some of the most important jobs, but these roles are also some of the hardest to fill,” said Rhea Moss, global head of workforce and customer insights at iCIMS.