New count of US public health workers shows 15% increase in workforce

The public health workforce can be difficult to accurately count for a variety of reasons, including that state and local health departments are often organized differently. To address this gap, researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health developed the first comprehensive analysis of state and local public health workers in the U.S. since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research, published in the American Journal of Public Health, incorporated data from multiple sources including the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey and the State Associations of County and City Health Officials. By comparing the different data sets, the researchers concluded:

• There were 239,000 individuals in the U.S. public health workforce in 2022, which is a 15% increase from 2019.
• Local departments comprise 70% of the public health workforce, while the remaining 30% work in state health agency offices.
• The workforce is predominantly female and white.
• Communities in the rural South have significantly fewer public health workers compared to the U.S. average.
• Epidemiologists, statisticians, emergency management workers and public information specialists were the most likely to express interest in leaving their position within one year.

“Even during something as large and impactful as the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions of Americans were relying on it, we did not have good data on the size and capability of the governmental public health workforce,” said JP Leider, lead author and director of the Center for Public Health Systems at the University of Minnesota.

“Understanding the realities of the workforce as it stands today is critical as public health systems nationwide continue to face substantial workforce shortages.”

Future research will explore gaps in workforce distribution, particularly in rural areas, to help address disparities and ensure public health systems are equipped to protect the health of all Americans.