Public Health Workforce in Oregon Survey: Disparities within the Public Health System

Oregon is experiencing rapid growth in both non-white and aging populations. Given the concurrent rise in public health issues such as obesity, communicable diseases, and environmental justice, a sufficient supply of well-trained, experienced, and culturally-sensitive public health professionals is necessary to enhance and maintain an effective and responsive public health system.

Concerns exist, however, about the adequacy of the workforce size, skills and competencies, to adapt to and serve the multitude of demographic and health-related changes in Oregon. In 2007, the web-based Public Health Workforce in Oregon Survey was conducted to describe the public health workforce, identify their training and professional development assets and needs, and determine their capacity to adapt to these changes.

This presentation shares findings from the survey, highlighting disparities in public health infrastructure by race, gender and age. Electronically-recruited participants included 687 current public health workers and students, of which the majority were female (74.3%), Caucasian (90.3%), and ≤50 years of age (59.8%). Differences exist by race, gender, and age in terms of education, income, public health training, job responsibilities, and cultural competency. For example, men report higher hourly pay rates compared to women with similar job responsibilities. Less than 30% of public health workers who serve linguistically-diverse populations are able to communicate effectively with population members.

Results will be used to plan for targeted workforce development and training to support the changing profile of public health in Oregon. Moreover, inequalities within the public health infrastructure emphasize areas for policy and programmatic change.