Online education in healthcare field continues record growth

Online education in healthcare field continues record growth

According to a new report by the research company Ambient Insight, the U.S. market for online education will grow to $23.8 billion by 2014.

The report, titled the U.S. Market for Self-paced eLearning Products and Services, states that the online education sector is rebounding well from the recession and is expected to see considerable growth in the coming years.

The demand for online education products is growing by over 7 percent across all eight of the distance learning segments and is experiencing even more significant growth in a few specific areas.

Online training in the healthcare field is growing by nearly 20 percent, making it the fastest growing industry in the online education sector.
"Despite the recession, and in many cases, because of it, the demand is positive in all the e-learning buying segments," said Ambient Research CEO Tyson Greer.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, demand for nurses is expected to grow by 23 percent over the next seven years. The top salaries in the field already exceed $83,000 per year.

Labor Department analysts predict that by 2012, a total of 1 million nurses will be needed to care for the aging population, and some 587,000 new nursing jobs will be created nationwide.