Skip to main content

Healthcare Job Postings Up in October

 |  By John Commins  
   November 02, 2010

Online ads for healthcare practitioners and technical workers rose by 26,800 listings to 543,100 in October, posting the largest increase of any job sector for the month, and breaking three consecutive months of declines. Vacancies continue to outnumber skilled healthcare job seekers by more than 2 to 1, a report shows.

The Conference Board's Help Wanted Online Data Series, which tracks more than 1,000 online job boards across the United States, attributed the uptick to increases in advertised vacancies for registered nurses and occupational and physical therapists.

Healthcare support vacancy listings also reversed a three-month decline and saw an increase of 7,800 listings to 111,600, primarily reflecting an increase in demand for occupational and physical therapist assistants. However, there were 2.3 unemployed people for every advertised vacancy in healthcare support, The Conference Board reports.

The average wage advertised for healthcare practitioners and technical workers was $33.51 an hour, and the average wage for healthcare support occupations was $12.84 an hour, the report says.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which will release on Friday its employment statistics for October, has shown that the healthcare sector is one of the few areas in the economy that has seen monthly job growth throughout the recession, although that growth has slowed considerably since 2009.

In the overall economy, online advertised vacancies rose 113,700 in October to 4,409,800, following an increase of 59,900 in September, with 40 of 50 states reporting increases in online job postings, The Conference Board reports.

The nation’s supply/demand rate stood at 3.44 unemployed for every advertised vacancy in September (the last available unemployment data), down from a peak of 4.73 in October 2009. Nationally, there are 10.5 million more unemployed than advertised vacancies, The Conference Board reports.

"In this slow economic recovery, the October rise is welcome news that the trend in labor demand continues to move in a positive direction, albeit at a very moderate pace," said June Shelp, vice president at The Conference Board. "The October increase reflected a moderate rise in a range of occupations and geographically across the nation. The slow but steady upward trend of the last seven months points to modest growth in employment through the end of 2010."

Shelp said online job postings across all sectors of the economy have increased by 1 million advertised vacancies since the end of the recession in June 2009. "Following the rapid HWOL rises in labor demand in the 4th quarter 2009 and 1st quarter 2010, labor demand has now settled into more modest growth, pointing to a moderate growth in employment through the end of 2010," she said.

In addition to the high demand for healthcare practitioners and technical workers, The Conference Board also reported high demand for management workers, and computer and mathematical science.

John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.

Tagged Under:


Get the latest on healthcare leadership in your inbox.