Understanding health labour markets in the Western Pacific Region

Health systems that aspire to universal health coverage for their populations need to develop enabling policies and plans for human resources for health (HRH). These policies must be based on a sound understanding of the demand and the supply of staff, as well as on assessments of the investments needed to sustain current and future supply. This cannot be achieved without consideration of the dynamics of health-care labour markets.

No health sector workforce is static. The “stock” of health workers in the labour market is always subject to “inflows” and “outflows”. There is a constant flow of new workers entering the health-care sector, whilst others are leaving it, permanently or temporarily, or moving between jobs, organizations, sectors and countries. If health workforce planning is to be effective, it must be able to assess and take these patterns of mobility into account, just as HRH policies must take into account the dynamic nature of labour markets.