Healthcare Job Postings Drop, But Demand Steady

Online ads for healthcare practitioners and technical workers fell by 26,200 listings to 516,300 in September, the third straight month of declines. However, vacancies continue to outnumber skilled healthcare job seekers by 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, said the drop in healthcare job ads was largely due to decreases in advertised vacancies for registered nurses, and physical and occupational therapists. Since January, online job listings for the healthcare sector have fallen by a total 51,100.

Healthcare support vacancy listings also dropped for the third straight month by 5,100 to 103,800, mainly due to the slide in physical and occupational therapist assistants. Unlike highly skilled healthcare professions, however, there were 2.8 unemployed 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, while 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 its employment statistics for September next week, 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.

June Shelp, vice president at The Conference Board, 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,” Shelp said.

The Conference Board reported high demand in computer and mathematical science, transportation and material moving, and architecture and engineering, while job listings fell for sales and related workers.