While much of the technology sector continues to experience significant workforce disruption, healthcare faces a very different challenge.
Recent reports indicate that more than 150,000 technology jobs have been eliminated in 2026 alone as organizations restructure, automate processes, and redirect resources toward AI initiatives.
At the same time, federal workforce projections suggest substantial shortages across healthcare through 2038, including:
• 141,160 physicians
• 99,840 psychologists
• 99,780 mental health counselors
• 77,050 addiction counselors
• 60,610 physical therapists
• 43,810 psychiatrists
• 33,220 dental hygienists
These are not small gaps. They represent critical workforce needs that will affect communities across the United States for decades.
For higher education, this raises an important question:
Are we preparing students for jobs, or are we preparing them for workforce realities?
The future of education is not simply producing more graduates.
The future is aligning programs, credentials, and learning experiences with demonstrated labor market demand while simultaneously developing the human skills that remain difficult to automate:
✔ Critical thinking
✔ Problem solving
✔ Communication
✔ Data literacy
✔ Ethical decision making
✔ AI collaboration
Healthcare professionals, educators, analysts, business leaders, and technologists will increasingly work alongside AI rather than compete against it.
The institutions that thrive will be those that connect learning directly to workforce needs while teaching students how to leverage emerging technologies effectively.
As I continue my research into Agentic AI-Enhanced Learning (AAEL), one theme continues to emerge:
The future belongs to professionals who can combine domain expertise with AI-assisted problem solving.
Technology changes.
Human needs remain.
And education must bridge the two.
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