Anxious for the first time about job opportunities (MedSLP, metro NYC).
I’ve been working as a medical-based SLP (ie: SNF, outpatient, home care) for the past 10 years. I work exclusively with seniors. Like most people, I’ve had second thoughts about entering this field for many reasons, but the availability of work was never one of them. Lately, the number of job postings for SLP’s in this setting has bottomed out, and advertise wages are actually decreasing.
About 2 years ago, I left a FT director job at a SNF/outpatient to pursue PRN work, because the hourly rate at the SNF wasn’t paying my bills. For context, I’m a single coparent with 2 elementary-aged kids.
Now, for nearly 2 years, I’ve had no difficulty finding work. The pay has varied, but I’ve always been able to pay my bills and rent.
I currently work for 2 home care agencies, and 2 “senior living” agencies. Home care referrals are getting hard to come by, I’m being forced to cover larger areas for no extra compensation, and yesterday one of my Senior Living companies let me know that they’re planning to replace me with a part-timer to “save money”, even though the pay is already low. I didn’t expect to be competing for mid-pay work for somebody willing to do it cheaper.
I’m genuinely concerned that supply of labor is outstripping demand. I think it’s a combination of Medicare cuts, the increasing encroachment of insurance companies dictating access to therapy, and new grads desperate for work, who will take literally any job (and they have all my sympathy). Employers are also enforcing much stricter policies on things like documentation timeliness and productivity, which is adding to the stress of an already-draining job where I treat sick seniors for 7-8 hours a day and try to show up as the best clinician I can be.
I’m just feeling so stressed, so overwhelmed, so pessimistic about the future. Am I alone in this, or are other people noticing these trends?
(This isn’t my main Reddit account, as this post is kind of a vent.)