The vacancy rate for radiation therapists increased to 10.7% in 2022, according to the ASRT Radiation Therapy Workplace and Staffing Survey.

The vacancy rates represent the number of positions that are open and actively being recruited. This year’s vacancy rate for radiation therapists increased from the 7.2% rate reported in the 2020 staffing survey. In addition, the vacancy rate for medical dosimetrists increased from 9.6% to 11.3%.

The report also highlights information about workforce demographics. While vacancy rates saw sizable increases, the average number of radiation therapists budgeted per facility rose marginally from 7.1 in 2020 to 7.3 in 2022. The number of budgeted dosimetrists fell slightly from 2.5 in 2020 to 2.4 in 2022.

The survey respondents work in facilities that offer an average of 14.2 radiation therapy-related services, with the most common being intensity-modulated radiation therapy (96.6% of responding facilities), computed tomography simulation (94.8%) and cone beam CT (93.5%).

ASRT emailed the biennial survey in June 2022 to 14,520 radiation therapists. At the close of the survey in July 2022, 629 respondents from all U.S. states had submitted completed questionnaires, a response rate of 4.3%.

ASRT members can access the complete 2022 survey here.