The job creation roller coaster ride continues for the nation's hospitals.
Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary data released Friday show that hospitals shed 2,300 jobs in July, after reporting 3,000 payroll additions in June, which followed 1,400 reductions in May.
BLS information from June and July is considered preliminary and may be considerably revised in the coming months.
Hospitals have reported 15,200 payroll additions in the first seven months of 2010, compared with 6,500 payroll additions in the first seven months of 2009, according to BLS data and revised preliminary data.
Hospitals last reported sustained payroll reductions in 2000, when 2,200 jobs were lost between January and April, BLS data show.
Overall, the economy lost 131,000 jobs in July, as the nation's jobless rate held steady at 9.5%. The decline in payroll employment reflected the loss of 143,000 temporary jobs from the U.S. Census Bureau, while private sector payrolls increased by 71,000, BLS preliminary data show.
Job growth in the healthcare sector continues to be powered by ambulatory services, which accounted for 23,100 payroll additions in July, and 87,500 payroll additions in the first seven months of 2010. Nursing and residential care facilities reported 5,800 payroll additions, and physicians' offices reported 1,100 payroll additions, BLS preliminary data show.
The healthcare sector—everything from hospitals, to chiropractors' offices, blood and organ donor banks, to walk-in clinics—employed 13.7 million people in July, and has been one of the few areas of job growth during the recession and sputtering recovery, creating 27,000 new jobs in July, and 231,000 jobs in the past 12 months. Healthcare created 215,300 jobs in 2009, and 665,300 jobs since the recession began in December 2007, BLS data and preliminary data show.
In the larger economy, 14.6 million people were unemployed in the United States in June, and 6.6 million of them were long-term unemployed who'd been without a job for at least 27 weeks, BLS reports.
See also:
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