Ambulatory, hospitals, physician offices lead August healthcare jobs gains
Dive Brief:
- The healthcare sector added 48,000 jobs in August, according to preliminary data out Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Ambulatory services added about 22,000 jobs. Offices of physicians and hospitals also saw notable gains, with both adding about 15,000 jobs during the month.
- Employment in the sector is now down 0.2%, or 37,000 jobs, from February 2020, right before the pandemic began in the U.S.
Dive Insight:
Over the course of this year, the healthcare sector has added 412,000 jobs — though it still hasn’t fully recovered all jobs that were lost at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the BLS.
The industry added 48,000 jobs in August, compared to about 70,000 jobs in July and about 60,000 jobs in June.
While staffing challenges have strapped providers throughout the pandemic amid burnout, recruitment and retention issues, ambulatory services led the pack with job gains in August, followed by hospitals and offices of physicians.
Hospitals added 15,000 jobs in August after adding about 14,000 jobs in July and about 19,000 jobs in June, according to BLS data.
Offices of physicians also added 15,000 jobs in August, after adding about 12,000 jobs in July and about 8,000 jobs in June.
The only sector within healthcare to lose jobs in August was home health services, which lost about 1,800 jobs.
Nursing and residential care facilities added about 12,000 jobs during the month.