ASCP Publishes Results of 2022 Vacancy Survey

The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) recently published the results of its 2022 Vacancy Survey — a comprehensive report that sheds light on the state of the clinical laboratory workforce across the United States. The findings are available in the American Journal of Clinical Pathology.

Results of the 2022 survey showed increased overall vacancy rates for laboratory positions in all departments compared with 2020. The core laboratory department had the highest overall vacancy rate (18%) while cytogenetics had the lowest overall vacancy rate (7%). Among supervisory roles, the highest vacancy rate was in the molecular biology, molecular pathology and molecular diagnostics department (14.8%) while the lowest was in immunology (0%). Blood banking departments had the highest non-supervisory staff vacancy rate (18.9%) while cytogenetics (7.5%) had the lowest non-supervisory staff vacancy rate.

In addition to data on anticipated retirements, vacancy rates in different regions of the U.S. and employee recruitment and retention, the 2022 report explores the continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on laboratory staffing and testing.

ASCP has conducted the survey every two years since 1988 to estimate the vacancy rates within medical laboratory departments in the U.S. The 2022 report includes 876 responses from management-level and human resources staff, representing more than 22,344 employees in the U.S. It is a primary source of information for academic, government and industry labor analysts.