Background: The global healthcare workforce is facing a substantial shortage and an uneven distribution of qualified professionals, which restricts access to essential healthcare services. This shortage may be mitigated through more effective support of healthcare workers in training. Therefore, an overview of existing economic barriers for this demographic is necessary. Objective: To review the existing literature on financial challenges of students and early-career professionals in the healthcare sector. Methods: Following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, articles published between January 2008 and February 2024 were identified using PubMed and Scopus. A total of 17,268 articles were screened by reviewing their titles and abstracts followed by a detailed review of full texts with cross-validation. Themes were identified, clustered, and analyzed. Results: This scoping review included 167 articles focusing on the themes debt (36.5%, n=61) and loans (10.2 %, n=17) and their influence on career pathways, the role of employment for career satisfaction, summarizing findings concerning salary (29.9%, n=50), finances (25.1%, n=42), funding (10.8%, n=18), and savings (10.2%, n=17), and obstacles toward a sustainable lifestyle, which included results considering career choice (34.1%, n=57), migration (7.2%, n=12), gender disparity (6.0%, n=10), and working conditions (2.4%, n=4). Conclusions: Efforts to close the healthcare workforce gap require greater investment in training, compensation, and support for junior healthcare workers. Students and early-career professionals warrant particular attention to build a sustainable, resilient, and reliable healthcare workforce. © 2025 The Author(s)
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