Image of male nurse pushing senior woman in a wheelchair in nursing facility

The nation’s economic recession appears to have a silver lining for eldercare operators, according to a news report. More nurses are going back to work, taking on extra shifts or delaying retirement, according to The Wall Street Journal. During healthy economic times, the number of full-time nurses grows at an average annual rate of 2.4%, according to the paper. But as the economy has turned sluggish, that annual rate has risen to 3.5%, with 113,000 nurses joining the workforce last year alone. As a result, many operators are able to fill gaps in their nursing needs by simply giving their nurses the extra hours they want.