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Methodology & Data Sources

The Healthcare BLS Recertification Gap Study

How the report estimated BLS-required healthcare workforce counts and annual recertification demand.

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Primary Data Source

The workforce estimates in this report are built on Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta Metropolitan Statistical Area, released May 2024. The BLS OEWS program surveys employers across all industries twice annually and publishes occupation-level employment counts at the MSA geography, making it the most authoritative publicly available source for estimating how many workers hold specific job titles in a given metro area.

The full dataset is accessible at bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12060.htm.

Supporting Sources

American Heart Association BLS Certification Standards

Used to establish the two-year certification validity period that drives all recertification demand calculations.

Source

U.S. Census Bureau 2025 Population Estimates

Used to calculate Gwinnett County's share of the Atlanta MSA population at approximately 12.2 percent.

Source

Georgia Secretary of State Licensing Board Requirements

Used to confirm that Georgia nursing and allied health licensing boards require current CPR or BLS certification as a condition of licensure.

Source

Analytical Approach

  1. Occupation selection. Sixteen healthcare occupations were identified from BLS OEWS data where AHA BLS certification is a documented standard requirement for employment, hospital credentialing, or state licensure. Combined MSA employment across all sixteen totals approximately 176,990 workers.
  2. County-level estimation. Because BLS OEWS does not publish sub-MSA county data, Gwinnett County's workforce share was modeled using its population proportion, 12.2 percent of the Atlanta MSA, producing an estimate of approximately 21,593 BLS-required healthcare workers in Gwinnett County. The four-county North Atlanta area was estimated at roughly 22 percent of MSA population, yielding approximately 38,938 total workers and 19,469 annual recertifications.
  3. Annual recertification demand. Dividing total workforce estimates by the AHA's two-year certification cycle produces the annual recertification figures cited throughout this report.

Limitations

County-level estimates are modeled, not measured. Healthcare employment does not distribute perfectly by population because hospital campuses, clinic clusters, and health system footprints create geographic concentrations that a population-share model cannot fully capture. Actual Gwinnett County healthcare employment may be somewhat higher or lower than the estimates reported here. All figures should be interpreted as reasonable approximations based on best-available public data, not precise headcounts.

Research Credit

Research prepared for Work Readiness Center | workreadinesscenter.com | 770-878-3175.