One commonly cited factor behind the difficult recruiting environment for nurses has been the “silver tsunami” of aging talent. In other words, on average, nurses are getting older and either retiring (removing much-needed talent from the workforce) or looking to scale back their hours (making them strong candidates for temporary or part-time assignments). When a trend gets a great deal of attention, we like to look at what the data really tells us. From 2000 to 2017, the median age of an employed RN rose from 42.4 to 43.5 years of age, an increase no doubt but not one that appears to be a major game changer at first glance.

However, the underwhelming increase in the median age belies a much starker change, illustrated in the graph, in which the share of employed RNs that are 55 or older has increased from 13% in 2000 to 24% in 2017. The reason the median age has only increased by about one year over that time is because there has also been a major increase in RNs under the age of 35, driven by a surge in nursing school in graduates. Going beyond the median age and looking at various age groups, the graph tells the larger story, that employers are gaining younger nurses (lacking experience) but losing older nurses (with the necessary experience).