California’s Nursing Shortage Is a Workforce Challenge
By Rosa Mendoza, Founder, President and CEO, ALLvanza
The growth in Latina economic power is undeniable. U.S. Latinas contribute an estimated $1.3 trillion to the economy and are starting businesses at the fastest rate of any demographic group. That momentum shows how expanding opportunity can benefit workers, families, and the broader economy.
Expanding economic opportunity means ensuring that Americans across generations have clear pathways to good jobs and economic security. Many young Americans are worried about their prospects: only 43% of people ages 15 to 34 said it was a good time to find a job, compared with 64% of those 55 and older. Concerns about AI and changing entry-level work are part of that unease.
Across the country, we need to widen access to career pathways, embrace useful innovation, and help people prepare for essential fields, such as healthcare. Technology will continue to transform how we work, but it will not diminish the need for medical professionals and nurses, who remain vital to patient care and the health system we all depend on.
California offers a clear example of both the challenge and the opportunity to rethink how we develop the healthcare workforce. Among Latinos in California, 42% say their community does not have enough primary care providers to serve their healthcare needs. But sadly California is projected to face a shortage of tens of thousands of nurses within the next 10 years. Healthcare analysts call this “a defining operational challenge” that threatens more hospital closures. Just this summer, in the Bay Area, a psychiatric care facility closed and a community hospital NICU has been temporarily shut down due to staffing problems.
Closures leave California’s most vulnerable patients looking for answers, not just in our major cities, but also in rural areas with the fewest resources.
Part of California’s nursing workforce challenge is the limited capacity of its nursing schools. Each year, many students who aspire to become nurses face limited opportunities to enroll in California programs. Due to the small size of California nursing schools, roughly 70 percent of qualified applications were unable to enroll in 2025. Some programs are extremely selective, including UC Irvine’s nursing program, which reportedly accepted just 1 percent of applicants.
As a result, some students who cannot access California nursing programs are pursuing their education in nearby states, including Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, which are home to highly regarded nursing programs, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Students who leave California to pursue their nursing education face additional challenges when they return to the state after graduation. California’s requirements restrict these students from securing local clinical placements in hospitals, creating another barrier to entering the state’s nursing workforce.
Ultimately, there is a major flaw in how California and the state Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) have taken a close-minded view of the major healthcare and workforce challenges that loom ahead.
Lawmakers have tried to solve the problem through a proposal to remove restrictions for out-of-state students and allow them to receive clinical training in California. Despite these attempts, the proposal has yet to become a priority, leaving many students without good options to train for their potential nursing careers ahead.
The California Board of Registered Nursing has also faced concerns over delays in approving licenses for graduates of an out-of-state nursing school. Delays that slow the entry of qualified nurses into the workforce and adds pressure to a system already facing significant staffing challenges, including in hospitals and assisted living communities.
To be clear, California must always embrace the highest level of training and licensing standards. Ultimately, all aspiring nurses must pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), the standardized examination used to assess whether candidates are prepared to enter the nursing profession. The goal should be a licensing system that maintains those high standards while ensuring that qualified candidates can enter the workforce without unnecessary barriers.
Leading national nursing organizations have warned that inadequate staffing can undermine the quality of care patients receive. Before California’s workforce challenges become more acute, state leaders and the Board of Registered Nursing should look for ways to modernize the pathways into nursing while maintaining strong standards.
Developing a first-class workforce also means addressing the challenges facing essential fields such as healthcare, including California’s nursing workforce shortage, while embracing new technologies that can expand access to education and training. Across universities and nursing programs, virtual reality (VR) is increasingly being used to provide students with immersive opportunities to practice clinical skills and problem-solving.
Through my technology-focused work with ALLvanza, I have engaged with national policy leaders on how we can better prepare the workforce for an increasingly digital economy and harness the opportunities created by greater connectivity. These conversations have reinforced the importance of expanding access to innovative approaches to education and workforce development. California has long been a national leader in innovation, and we must continue creating opportunities for students to pursue careers in essential sectors such as healthcare, which will remain vital even as they evolve with technological advances. At the same time, we must ensure that students can benefit from these innovations and develop the skills needed to adapt to an ever-changing labor market.
California’s nursing shortage underscores a broader challenge: preparing our workforce for a future shaped by technology while strengthening the essential fields all communities depend on. By expanding pathways into nursing, maintaining rigorous standards, and embracing innovation in education and training, California can help ensure that more people are prepared for the jobs of the future, and that our healthcare system has the skilled professionals it needs.