Minnesota's Public Health Workforce: What does it currently look like?
In 2002, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) received funding to explore the issue of workforce shortages in public health. The funding allowed MDH to collaborate with other partners, including the University of Minnesota to count and describe the existing governmental public health workforce, and to identify key messages to encourage people to get advanced education in public health.
Minnesota’s vision for the public health workforce is to:
have an adequate supply of
suitably educated public health professionals
that reflect the populations we serve
and who are appropriately distributed throughout the state.
Counting Minnesota’s Workforce
In 2004, the MDH counted all public health professionals in Minnesota, in an effort to more clearly describe and understand any upcoming staffing shortages. A series of reports, including a local public health staff report, an agency report, and a statewide workforce report, were produced to summarize these findings.
To review the results for yourself, click and download the reports below.
- Preliminary Results from the 2004 Local Public Health Agency Survey (PDF: 1MB/24 pages)
(Note: Large file size of this document may require some time to download.)
Recruitment and Retention Strategies
The Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice have developed a set of strategies to address public health worker shortages.
Questions? Please contact Debra Burns at 651-201-3873.