RRT, CRT and specialty-credentialed therapists.
ICU ventilator management, ECMO and rapid response.
NICU and PICU respiratory care.
PFT, sleep and bronchoscopy support.
Employment for respiratory therapists is projected to grow roughly 12% between 2024 and 2034, with around 8,800 openings a year, and the CoARC-accredited training pipeline has not kept pace. Demand is also genuinely seasonal — winter respiratory volume is predictable enough to staff deliberately rather than scramble for in January.
Respiratory therapists are licensed in 49 states and there is no interstate compact, nor one in progress. Alaska becomes the fiftieth when its licensing provisions take effect in January 2027. Every cross-state hire therefore begins with a fresh application, which is why respiratory fill timelines vary far more by state than nursing timelines do.
Contract works well for seasonal respiratory volume, which is predictable enough to book ahead at a lower rate. Permanent is the right call for structural gaps — given the growth projections and pipeline constraints, this market is not going to loosen.
Every candidate is spoken to before you see them. We confirm licensure status for your state, verify certifications at primary source, check unit-specific competency against the population you described at intake, and complete exclusion and background screening before submittal. Nothing reaches your inbox that we have not already checked.
Rates for this division sit inside the ranges on our published cost breakdown, and there is role-specific guidance in our hiring guides. If you want the service overview instead, see Respiratory Care staffing.
Tell us the unit and the credential and we will come back with a realistic fill window and current market rate.