Despite near-record unemployment rates in the region, southeast Wisconsin's healthcare sector faces a distinctive challenge: finding sufficient numbers of qualified and trained workers to fill current and future job openings. A May 2009 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee analysis found that one out of every four full-time job openings and one out of three part-time openings in the Milwaukee region was in a health-related occupation. Almost 70% of those positions required specialized training beyond a high school diploma. The need for healthcare workers is not expected to subside in the near term. Healthcare jobs in hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities and ambulatory healthcare services are projected to increase 8% in southeast Wisconsin by 2014. Regional efforts are taking shape to address the region's shortage of healthcare workers while connecting low-skilled persons to employment opportunities. The Milwaukee Area Healthcare Alliance (MAHA), a new workforce development partnership between the YWCA of Greater Milwaukee and Milwaukee Area Health Education, has emerged as a workforce intermediary to bridge the gaps between employers, prospective applicants, and the region's workforce development and training resources. Successfully building that bridge requires a better understanding of the challenges healthcare employers face in making hiring decisions. MAHA engaged the Public Policy Forum to conduct a survey of health-care industry employers in the seven counties of Southeastern Wisconsin, including Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth, Washington, and Waukesha counties. This "Research Brief" details the survey's results and highlights challenges health-care employers face in hiring and retaining a qualified workforce. (Contains 3 charts, 7 tables and 9 footnotes.) [This research was funded by the Milwaukee Area Healthcare Alliance.]