Could the Trump tariffs shift the health care labor market?

Stephen A. Dickens, JD, MAEd, FACMPE, vice president of medical practice services at SVMIC, responds to a question about whether there could be any potential silver linings to the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs on medical goods and supplies. While cautious in his outlook, Dickens offers one possible area of unintended impact: the labor market.

“The only possible ray of hope I can see in any of this,” he says, “is that we’ve had a real staffing issue in medical practices for the last several years.” Many frontline health care workers, especially those in lower-paid roles, have left for other industries or opted out of the workforce altogether — some retiring early, others choosing to stay home after reevaluating their priorities during the pandemic.

But with the economic pressure brought on by tariffs — rising prices, job displacement, and public-sector cuts — Dickens suggests we may see a shift. “We may suddenly see a group of people willing to come back into the workforce,” he says, including those who’ve lost jobs in other sectors. “That may open opportunities.”

Still, Dickens tempers any optimism. “I can’t say that I’m terribly hopeful for any of that,” he adds. “But that is the only thing — that all of this may change the labor market yet again. And we’ll see what impact that might have.”