according to a 2016 article in the wall street journal, "after years of relative equilibrium, the job market for nurses is heating up in many markets, driving up wages and sign-on bonuses for the nation’s fifth-largest occupation." many nurses who had delayed their retirement due to the 2008 recession began to retire, resulting in a retirement wave that caused nurses to exit the workforce in greater numbers than new nurses were entering. at the same time, demand for nurses had increased due to the additional health care coverage associated with job growth over the previous decade since the recession and the affordable care act.