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CDC's Public Health Associate Program: Serving the Field Today While Creating the Workforce of Tomorrow

For the past several years, there has been a growing concern about the status and future of the public health workforce in America. Among the major concerns are the aging workforce, the lack of diversity in the workforce, and the changing nature of the work itself. The average age of a state health agency worker today is 48 years, and approximately 38% of workers are planning on, or considering, leaving governmental public health before 2020. The racial/ethnic demographics of the public health workforce do not reflect the diversity of the public it serves: approximately 70% of the current state health agency workforce identifies as non-Hispanic white, yet the US population is less than 62% white. Finally, the nature of the work is changing. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, government public health agencies at the local, state, and national levels are now less likely than ever before to offer direct services such as immunization and infectious disease treatment. There also are new tasks emerging, and with them, new skills are needed. For example, public health officials are now more likely to interact with the health care and non–health-related sectors. And there is an elevated focus on complex, nontraditional data sources and communication opportunities that require an understanding of social media, Internet communication, and data aggregation. The need to address these workforce issues has been highlighted by government and private organizations alike, and experts have written reports and articles encouraging action. It is in the midst of these discussions that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),