Wave of Departing Public Health Workers Puts America at Risk

A new paper analyzing the large decline in the public health workforce draws on data from the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey, the largest national poll of the sector. The new analysis found that 75 percent of workers 35 and younger left state and local public health agencies in the 2017-2021 period. If current trends continue, a similar percentage of this age group could leave by 2025, as would 80 percent of those on their jobs three years or less. The findings heighten worries about the relationship between decades of underfunding and the faltering health of Americans. The U.S. spends more per capita on health care than do other large, wealthy countries — almost twice as much as most — yet has the lowest life expectancy of all of them. Read more from Governing here.