ASCP Meets with BLS to Discuss Wage, Shortage & Recruitment Issues

ASCP and the ASCP Board of Certification (BOC) met with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on April 24 to discuss several issues of concern to the medical laboratory professional workforce. Chief among these issues was the BLS’s recent aggregation of wage and employment data. The BLS explained that the data aggregation was necessary because it was unable to distinguish whether the wage and employment data it was receiving from completed surveys pertained to scientist (technologist)-level or technician-level personnel. Apparently, human resource departments often insufficiently classify laboratory personnel as “lab techs.”

With employers frequently relying on BLS data to set wages, ASCP and the BOC expressed concern that the resulting data diminishes the usability of the BLS data. The Agency’s wage estimates could undermine wage growth for scientist/technologist-level laboratory professionals, while simultaneously creating misleading expectations for greater wages for technician-level laboratory professionals. ASCP and the BOC expressed concern that the BLS’s data could undermine efforts to recruit individuals into the field. The BLS’s wage data mischaracterizes the wage differences between laboratory professionals and other healthcare practitioners, such as nurses. ASCP and the BOC expressed interest in working with the Agency to discourage human resource departments from using the term “lab tech” when responding to BLS wage and employment surveys.

ASCP and the BOC pledged to work with the BLS to improve some of the resources it provides on the laboratory profession through its Occupational Outlook Handbook. Though the BLS was recently updated, Patricia Tanabe, MPA, MLS(ASCP)^CM, ASCP BOC Executive Director, noted that some of the resources about laboratory professionals were not entirely accurate. She also argued that improving the website, which can help recruit prospective laboratory professionals to the field, could help address personnel shortages. Misleading information, she noted, could also lead to dissatisfaction with the profession as a career choice. ASCP and the BOC plan to work with the BLS to identify more accurate resources for the BLS website that would provide a more realistic and informed picture of the laboratory profession.

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