Medical Technologist Shortages Widespread

Medical technologists (MTs) have been in chronic short supply for at least the past 20 years. In the past, labs have used sign-on bonuses ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 to attract MTs. Last month, Laboratory Economics highlighted Alverno Laboratories (Hammond, IN) use of $10,000 sign-on bonuses to try to fill hundreds of open positions. We thought it was unusual, but it’s not. Both hospital labs and commercial labs across the country are offering sign-on bonuses ranging as high as $10,000 to $20,000 to fill open MT positions. Night shift and blood banking MT positions appear to be the hardest to fill. Laboratory Economics plans to take a deeper look at the lab industry’s worker shortage in next month’s issue.