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RALEIGH – More people in their early twenties are becoming nurses and it's pulled the country out of a national nursing shortage.

Twenty-three-year-old Diane Loos has been a registered nurse at Rex Hospital for nearly a year. She originally went to school to study art, but Loos decided nursing provided better job prospects.

“I think I have pretty good job security where I am,” she said. “I can go anywhere and find a job if I need to.”

Loos is part of a growing trend of new, young nurses. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks nursing as the occupation with the largest projected job growth. Between now and 2020, the country is expected to add more than 700,000 new nursing positions.

That's an increase of more than 26 percent.

Health Affairs Magazine said the growth is thanks to a 62-percent increase in the number of nurses between 23- and 26-years-old, like Kristie Reynolds.

“I didn't want to sit behind a desk,” said Reynolds. “I wanted to actually work with people and interact with them. I love it actually. I really enjoy it.”

But nursing administrators worry another shortage is just around the corner.

“When the economy turns around, I think people who can retire and have been holding off retiring will retire and so we always want to be bringing in new nurses,” said Mary Lou Powell, Rex Hospital chief nursing officer.

She said she is counting on more young nurses to care for our aging population for years to come.