Healthcare Online Job Postings Slip

Help wanted ads for healthcare professionals dropped by 18,400 listing in July, even as the overall economy saw a modest increase of 139,200 in online job listings, a report released Monday shows.

The Conference Board's Help Wanted Online Data Series, which tracks more than 1,000 online job boards across the United States, said the drop in healthcare job ads was largely due to decreases in advertised vacancies for physical and occupational therapists, speech pathologists, pharmacists, physicians, and surgeons.

The Conference Board said labor demand varies greatly from the higher-paying practitioner and technical jobs, to the lower-paying support jobs. In June, the latest month for which unemployment data is available, advertised vacancies for healthcare practitioners or technicians outnumbered those looking for work in the fields by more than two to one.

The average wage in these jobs is $33.51 an hour. In marked contrast, the average wage for healthcare support occupations is $12.84 an hour and there were more than two jobless people looking for work in the field for every advertised vacancy.