How did the Bureau of Labor Statistics define nursing occupations between 2017 and 2020?
Executive summary
Between 2017 and 2020 the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) treated “nursing” not as a single occupational label but as a set of distinct occupations — registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical/vocational nurses (LPNs/LVNs), nursing assistants and orderlies, and advanced practice nurses (nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists) — each with its own definition, employment counts, and data products (for example, RNs: 2,986,500 employed as of May 2020) [1] [2] [3] [4]. BLS guidance and Career Outlook reporting from 2020 described the typical duties, education/licensure pathways, and projected openings separately for those categories [5] [6].
1. BLS split “nursing” into distinct occupations, not one single category
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) and related OEWS and Spotlight pages consistently present multiple nursing occupations as separate entries — Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses, Nursing Assistants and Orderlies, and Nurse Anesthetists/Nurse Midwives/Nurse Practitioners — each with its own job description, outlook and wage data [3] [7] [2] [4]. This means BLS definitions emphasized job-specific tasks (e.g., RNs “provide and coordinate patient care and educate patients and the public about various health conditions”) rather than grouping all bedside or caregiving roles under a single “nursing” label [3].
2. What BLS said about Registered Nurses (RNs) in that period
BLS defined RNs in functional terms: providing and coordinating patient care, educating patients and the public, and offering advice and emotional support [3] [1]. BLS published employment totals and trends for RNs — for example, the BLS snapshot lists 2,986,500 employed RNs as of May 2020 — and attached supporting data sources such as OEWS for wages and SOII/CFOI for injuries and fatalities [1] [8].
3. How BLS defined nurse assistants and orderlies
Nursing assistants and orderlies were defined separately as providing basic care and helping patients with activities of daily living; orderlies’ duties include transporting patients and cleaning treatment areas [2]. BLS also reported projected openings and noted that many openings arise from replacement needs rather than growth, with specific OEWS wage and employment estimates tied to that occupation [2].
4. Advanced practice nurses had their own combined entry
BLS grouped nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners under a combined OOH entry describing the higher-skill APRN roles, associated duties, distribution of employment, and distinctive wage levels [4]. That combined entry reflects the BLS method of grouping closely related detailed occupations into one OOH profile while still distinguishing them from RNs, LPNs, and nursing assistants [4].
5. Education, licensing and role distinctions as described by BLS
BLS materials in 2020’s Career Outlook and OOH emphasized that nurses’ education and licensure help define roles and duties: different nursing occupations have typical entry-level education and licensing requirements (for example, RNs “typically need a bachelor’s degree in nursing,” though multiple paths exist), and BLS presented those differences explicitly for readers [5] [6]. BLS therefore framed occupational definitions around required credentials and tasks rather than a single job title for all “nurses” [5].
6. Data sources and program-level distinctions matter
BLS used different programs to generate the various statistics cited in nursing profiles: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wages, the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) and the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) for safety data, and the Career Outlook pieces to synthesize roles and outlooks [1] [8] [5]. That program split explains why different pages emphasize wages, openings, or safety in separate ways even while using the same occupation definitions [1] [8].
7. Limitations and what the provided sources don’t say
Available sources do not mention a single, unified BLS definition that covers every job commonly called “nurse” across settings; instead the evidence shows the agency worked with multiple, separate occupational definitions [3] [2] [4]. The provided material does not detail any internal BLS rule changes to the taxonomy between 2017 and 2020, nor does it list the precise text of any definitional changes year-by-year; those specifics are not found in current reporting [1] [5].
8. Two interpretive takeaways for readers and researchers
First, when citing “nurse” statistics from BLS in 2017–2020, specify which BLS occupation you mean (RN, LPN/LVN, nursing assistant, or APRN) because BLS treats them separately and reports distinct counts, wage medians, and outlooks [3] [7] [2] [4]. Second, use the program-level citations BLS provides (OEWS, SOII, CFOI) to clarify whether a figure refers to employment, wages, or safety — the BLS pages explicitly call out which program produced which estimate [1] [8].