These men went to college in search of stable careers. They found it in nursing
Nursing is becoming an increasingly popular career path for men in the U.S. as traditional male-dominated industries face economic instability. Universities are seeing higher enrollment of male students, helping to dismantle long-standing gender stereotypes in the healthcare field.
Why it matters
Addressing the gender gap in nursing helps mitigate the severe labor shortages projected for the healthcare sector over the next decade.
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Men are largely missing out on one of the hottest professions in the U.S. right now: nursing.
For registered nurses alone, the Labor Department projects there will be 189,000 job openings each year for the next decade. But only 1 in 8 nurses are men .
There have long been efforts to rewrite the script around nursing — to push back on the idea that it's women's work. Now, the economy is helping, too.
With diminishing opportunities in male-dominated industries like manufacturing and software engineering, nursing has emerged as a stable alternative and a solid pathway to a middle-class life.
Nursing students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are already experiencing what it's like to be in demand.
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