FAQ
Q: What are the expectations for the clinical laboratory workforce in the future?
A: We expect that workforce shortages will begin to accelerate as the wave of people who joined the
field in the sixties and seventies, a period of extraordinary growth, begin to retire. About 40 years
ago, people flooded into the field to help with the exciting new tests and technologies that were
becoming available. All of these people are now approaching retirement age and there will not
be enough new graduates to take their place.
1. Qualitative and quantitative data suggest a shortage of clinical laboratory workers in the past
several years although the most recent data indicate that the shortages may be easing at least
for some types of workers and in some settings and geographic areas.
2. Increasing wages and the use of sign-on bonuses indicate that the market is responding to a
shortage of clinical laboratory workers. The increased use of per diem and contract workers
and overtime may conceal the severity of the current shortage.
3. Though the pipeline to employment in the clinical laboratory sciences has deteriorated – mostly
due to closures in hospital-based training programs – student interest is rising. Local or
regionally driven efforts to restart training programs, or develop new ones, in locations currently
experiencing labor shortages, have capitalized on renewed student interest to meet local
workforce demand.
4. New and developing technology, including the automation of many common tests, will have an
impact on the demand for clinical laboratory workers; yet much of that change is emerging more
slowly than once predicted.
5. Medical technologists (MTs) will not move into consultative roles on clinical teams without a
strategy to make this happen.
Q: What type of organizations do clinical laboratory technologists work in that may be
impacted by shortages?
A: Clinical Laboratory Technologists can work in:
Hospitals
Clinics
Doctors' Offices
Academic Research Laboratories
Reference Laboratories
Veterinary Hospitals and Laboratories
Pharmaceutical company research and development laboratories
Diagnostic company research and development laboratories
Armed Services Hospitals, Ships, Medical Units and Research Institutes
Blood Banks
Dialysis facilities
Food product development and safety laboratories
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Public Health Laboratories
Scientific an dresearch Foundations and Institutes
World Health Organization
Health insurance companies
Assisted Reproductive Technology Laboratories
Crime Scene Forensics Laboratories
Q: Since Pap tests are going to be decreasing since the HPV vaccine is available,
will there be a future in cytotechnology?
A: The decline in the Pap test is unlikely to fully affect the United States for 10
years or so. The cytotechnologist is involved in many other areas of the
laboratory, including screening and interpretation of non-gynecologic cytology,
and has expanded their roles in molecular testing and other image-based
studies. Cytotechnology is a field with many opportunities for growth and
development.