In normal times, there are some 50,000 travelling nurses in the United States. Most are full-time gig workers who move from job to job, usually staying in one place for thirteen weeks. (That length is a holdover from old maternity-leave policies for nurses; the staffing industry evolved, in part, to fill such gaps.)

The pandemic has diversified the pool. Severe staff shortages have brought more nurses into the travelling workforce. Many clinicians, especially those with critical-care training, feel an obligation to help. But, because demand has far outpaced supply, pay for travelling nurses has also skyrocketed.

Before the pandemic, hospitals might have offered a travelling nurse seventy-five dollars an hour; now, in many places, that rate has tripled. Even if you were willing to pay a thousand dollars an hour, there just aren’t enough nurses. All you’re doing then is shuffling people around. You’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. We’re dangerously close to that.

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