Workers are continuing to leave the field faster than they arrive, a new study finds.

Many of the employees creating this leaky-bucket problem are departing without better job prospects, according to a new report from the University of California, San Francisco.

“This is especially concerning, as most people who left the long-term care workforce — particularly those with lower skill levels — found themselves unemployed or out of the labor force entirely, and they also reported higher rates of work disability and poverty,” said study co-author Bianca Frogner, Ph.D., of the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Frogner said future investment in training and education might help increase recruitment and retention of workers. 

Investigators examined 2003-2013 data from the federal government’s Current Population Survey, which collects people’s self-reported information about job transitions. 

On average, for any year during the study time period, about 13% of long-term care workers said they had newly entered the field, while 21% said they had left. n