The Future of Careers at the Intersection of Climate Change and Public Health: What Can Job Postings and an Employer Survey Tell Us?

Heather Krasna, Katarzyna Czabanowska, Shan Jiang, Simran Khadka, Haruka Morita, Julie Kornfeld and Jeffrey Shaman
Additional contact information
Heather Krasna: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 722 W. 168th St., 1003, New York, NY 10032, USA
Katarzyna Czabanowska: Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University Department of International Health, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, 6211 Maastricht, The Netherlands
Shan Jiang: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 722 W. 168th St., 1003, New York, NY 10032, USA
Simran Khadka: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 722 W. 168th St., 1003, New York, NY 10032, USA
Haruka Morita: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 722 W. 168th St., 1003, New York, NY 10032, USA
Julie Kornfeld: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 722 W. 168th St., 1003, New York, NY 10032, USA
Jeffrey Shaman: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 722 W. 168th St., 1003, New York, NY 10032, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: Climate change is acknowledged to be a major risk to public health. Skills and competencies related to climate change are becoming a part of the curriculum at schools of public health and are now a competency required by schools in Europe and Australia. However, it is unclear whether graduates of public health programs focusing on climate change are in demand in the current job market. The authors analyzed current job postings, 16 years worth of job postings on a public health job board, and survey responses from prospective employers. The current job market appears small but there is evidence from job postings that it may be growing, and 91.7% of survey respondents believe the need for public health professionals with training in climate change may grow in the next 5–10 years. Current employers value skills/competencies such as the knowledge of climate mitigation/adaptation, climate-health justice, direct/indirect and downstream effects of climate on health, health impact assessment, risk assessment, pollution-health consequences and causes, Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, communication/writing, finance/economics, policy analysis, systems thinking, and interdisciplinary understanding. Ensuring that competencies align with current and future needs is a key aspect of curriculum development. At the same time, we recognize that while we attempt to predict future workforce needs with historical data or surveys, the disruptive reality created by climate change cannot be modeled from prior trends, and we must therefore adopt new paradigms of education for the emerging future.

Keywords: climate change; health workforce; workforce planning; competencies; public health education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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