Los Angeles’ plan to tackle nurse shortage by 2035
Students in the nursing program at Cerritos College in Norwalk gather around their instructor and “patient.”
Courtesy of Cerritos College
Across California, health care costs continue to rise, but another crisis is threatening patient care: a growing shortage of registered nurses.
Without a coordinated system that connects nursing programs, clinical placements and job opportunities, Los Angeles County could face a shortage of 11,000 nurses by 2035. This shortage would strain already overworked hospitals, drastically impact patient outcomes and deepen inequities in access to quality care, especially for low-income and aging populations.
This may seem surprising. California’s nursing programs are full, and every year, thousands of students graduate ready to join the workforce. It’s easy to assume that more graduates mean more nurses, but the reality is more complicated. Too often, students completing rigorous in-classroom nursing instruction are unable to secure clinical placement opportunities due to factors impacting seasoned nurses needed to oversee student nurses. These shortfalls include heavy patient loads, administrative burdens associated with training students, a lack of additional compensation or recognition, and high burnout rates, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic. The result is a widening gap between the number of nursing graduates and the number of nurses working in the field.
To help close that gap, the Los Angeles Regional Consortium, which represents all 19 community colleges in Los Angeles County, partnered with the Center of Excellence for Labor Market Research, which provides regional data and analysis on workforce trends, along with the California State University system, regional hospitals, city and county agencies, and philanthropic partners to create the Los Angeles County Nursing 2035 Initiative. This countywide effort aims to eliminate the nursing shortage by 2035 by expanding affordable education, increasing clinical placements, and strengthening the links between schools, employers and health care providers.
Addressing the underlying issues impacting the nursing shortage will require trust building and exposure to systemic risks and challenges, but the goal of the initiative is to find regional collaboration on:
- Expanding clinical placements to give every student hands-on experience.
- Streamlining education pathways so nursing students can move smoothly from classroom to career.
- Partnering with employers to connect graduates to quality jobs.
- Support retention of existing nursing staff by reducing burnout and turnover.
- Investing in shared systems that make data, training and resources easier to access.
Together, these efforts will help build a stronger, more coordinated nursing workforce for Los Angeles County. The numbers illustrate why this regional approach can’t wait.
According to labor market research from Lightcast, a national analytics firm, Los Angeles County will need about 6,400 new registered nurses every year through 2035. Yet local colleges and universities produced only about 5,300 nursing degrees and certificates in 2023, a shortfall of more than 1,000 nurses annually. The Nursing 2035 Initiative is designed to close that gap by coordinating training and job placement across institutions, so that graduates can move directly from the classroom to the clinic.
Community colleges play a central role in this effort. They enroll about 5,000 nursing students in Los Angeles County each year and provide the most affordable and diverse path into the profession. Yet they face persistent barriers: limited funding, too few clinical placements and faculty shortages that prevent expansion. Many qualified students are turned away, and unclear transfer pathways between two-year and four-year programs make it harder for graduates to continue their education. Strengthening these programs is essential to building a more equitable and sustainable nursing workforce.
Meanwhile, private nursing programs now enroll 71% of the county’s nursing students, raising concerns about affordability and access. As these programs expand, community colleges struggle to compete for clinical placements and update their facilities, even though they serve students who are most representative of the region’s population and future workforce.
Solving California’s nursing shortage will take more than producing graduates. It requires collaboration that goes beyond individual schools or hospitals. Los Angeles is proving what regional coordination looks like in practice, which could serve as a statewide model for nursing-workforce innovation by aligning data, sharing clinical resources, and building consistent pathways for students to move from college to career. When education, health care and public agencies work together, every nurse gains a pathway to serve, and patients receive the quality of care they deserve.
•••
Narineh Makijan is the chair and assistant vice president of the Los Angeles Regional Consortium. Luke Meyer is the director of the Los Angeles Center of Excellence for Labor Market Research.
The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.
