A survey commissioned by Strategic Education and its subsidiary Workforce Edge finds that 70% of Gen Z healthcare workers expect to look for a new job within the next year, part of a broader retention problem: 59% of all healthcare workers are considering leaving. The U.S. faces a projected shortage of nearly 500,000 critical healthcare workers by 2038, with one in three nurses already over 50.
Despite the high mobility, Gen Z workers say they value stability: 65% expect to stay with one employer for five or more years, and 95% value long-term job stability. What they want in exchange is visible investment: 89% say clear advancement opportunities are important, and 86% see education and skill-building as the path to get there. Yet only 26% of healthcare workers have a great deal of trust that their employer will support their long-term career growth.
Employers largely recognize the problem: nearly half cite lack of advancement, professional development, or education as main reasons employees leave. While 75% of healthcare workers are interested in continuing education and 81% would welcome employer-sponsored education benefits, less than half of employers have built a comprehensive workforce education program. The article argues that tying education directly to advancement, rather than offering it as a disconnected perk, is a key retention lever.
The survey also suggests healthcare workers feel insulated from AI: two-thirds believe they are less at risk of replacement than workers in other industries, and the share of employers seeing AI skills as critical dropped from 89% to 79% year over year. The author frames Gen Z's expectations not as disloyalty but as a negotiation for commitment, and says employers who build visible career paths will be more likely to keep them.