ASHEVILLE — This year’s 76 graduates of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College’s associate degree nursing program could face something new: unemployment.
The recession means new nursing graduates are having a harder time finding jobs than in years past.
Only 24 of the new graduates from A-B Tech’s nursing program had full-time jobs lined up as of graduation, compared with previous years when nearly all of the new nurses had jobs, often choosing among multiple offers.
More than half of the 43 graduates of Western Carolina University’s nursing program have received job offers this year, but that’s less than past years, when nearly all of the new graduates were employed at graduation.
“You always hear how easy it is get a job as a nurse,” said Luis Gasca, who was graduating from A-B Tech on Friday and is still looking for employment. “It’s very strange. I didn’t expect it. No one expected it.”
Tina Gordon, executive director of the N.C. Nurses Association, said the nursing job market is tightening all over the state. She said most hospitals are not cutting direct care positions, but the uncertainty about the economy has nurses staying in their jobs and putting off retirement.
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