The medical laboratory workforce plays a critical role in the US health care system, highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic by a heightened need for workers to meet drastic increases in demand for COVID-19 testing. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted and exacerbated existing medical laboratory workforce challenges. To address future demand, it is crucial to examine the pandemic’s long-term impact on the recruitment and retention of medical laboratory professionals and to identify key factors influencing their career decisions.

This article explores career pathways into the medical laboratory workforce by examining the 6 common occupations: medical laboratory scientists, medical laboratory technicians, phlebotomists, cytologists, histotechnicians, and histotechnologists.