Online advertised vacancies for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations increased by 26,300 in August, breaking two consecutive months of declines, The Conference Board reported.
Among the top 10 occupation groups in the overall economy with the largest number of online advertised vacancies, healthcare practitioners and technical occupations posted the only increases in August.
The highly skilled health occupations posted 513,700 online job ads for the month and made up some ground lost from July's decrease of 61,200 postings. However, demand for healthcare practitioners and technicians dropped by 98,800 job postings since January, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted Online report.
The board's Help Wanted Online Data Series tracks more than 1,000 online job boards across the United States.
August job posting gains were reported for registered nurses, speech-language pathologists, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, family and general practitioners, and occupational therapists. For those occupations, there were more than two jobs available for every job seeker, with an average hourly wage of $34.27.
Healthcare support positions fell by 500 listings to 116,000 in August. There were 2.6 healthcare support job seekers for every job opening, and the positions paid – on average -- $12.94 an hour, The Conference Board reported.
In the overall economy, on line job listings fell by 163,000 listings in August, to 3.9 million. The August decline follows a drop of 217,000 job listings in July and 100,000 job listings in June. There were more than three unemployed people for every online advertised vacancy in July, the latest monthly data available for unemployment.
"Following a very strong first quarter (+763,000), labor demand has fallen off in the second quarter and into the third quarter (-456,000), reducing the earlier gains," June Shelp, Vice President at The Conference Board, said in a media release.
Overall, 2011 has seen a 308,000 increase in labor demand, but the average monthly gain this year (+38,000) is less than last year's average monthly gain at this point (+62,000), Shelp said.
John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.