Healthcare Online Job Postings Plummet in October

Online advertised vacancies for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations fell by 25,000 listings in October, snapping what had been two consecutive months of impressive gains for the sector, the Conference Board reports.

Healthcare practitioners and technicians—with 506,000 online job listings—posted the largest declines in online advertised vacancies among the top 10 occupation groups in the overall economy.

There were 17,900 and 26,300 new online job listings for healthcare practitioners and technicians in September and August, respectively, following a decrease of 61,200 listings in July.

The drop in job postings for healthcare practitioners was largely fueled by decreased ads for registered nurses and family and general practitioners. However, the number of advertised vacancies for these highly skilled medical professionals continues to outnumber job-seekers by 2.6 to one, with an average hourly wage of $34.27, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted Online report, which tracks more than 1,000 online job boards across the United States.