State COVID‐19 Policy Configurations and Registered Nurse Employment Recovery: A Mixed‐Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of U.S. States and the District of Columbia (2021–2022)

RN employment rebounded unevenly across the states of the U.S. after the acute phase of COVID‐19. We examine how 2021 state COVID‐19 policy mixes across six domains were associated with registered nurse (RN) employment recovery in 2022: telehealth expansion, early prescription refill flexibility, cost relief (cost‐sharing + vaccine cost relief), paid sick leave, mask mandates, and vaccine mandates. Using 51 jurisdictions (50 states plus the District of Columbia), we apply Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in a mixed‐set design, coding policy domains as crisp‐set membership indicators (0/1) based on documented adoption in 2021 and calibrating the outcome as a set‐membership score from the percent change in RN employment from 2021 to 2022 (p25/median/p75 anchors). At a consistency cutoff of 0.70, we identify multiple configurations sufficient for high recovery (solution consistency = 0.809; total coverage = 0.444), consistent with equifinality. Access‐oriented tools (telehealth expansion and refill flexibility) recur across several high‐recovery configurations, while mandates and paid sick leave vary across pathways. The empirical results are robust to stricter specifications, including a higher consistency cutoff (0.75), a higher frequency threshold (Freq ≥ 2), and alternative calibration anchors (20/50/80). In contrast, low recovery (1‐Y) is characterized by different sufficient configurations (solution consistency = 0.965; total coverage = 0.416), underscoring causal asymmetry. We interpret these results as configuration‐level associations rather than causal estimates and highlight how feasible access policies interact with mandates and workforce protections within broader state policy mixes linked to RN employment recovery.