Healthcare Job Postings Stall in February

Overall, the healthcare sector employed 13.9 million people at the end of 2010, including 4.7 million jobs at hospitals, 6 million jobs in outpatient ambulatory services, and 2.3 million jobs in physicians' offices, BLS data show.

The tapering off of February on-line job listings in healthcare mirrored a slight drop in job listings in the overall economy, which saw online advertised vacancies dipped by 27,400 in February to 4,245,600, The Conference Board reports.

“Total labor demand (new ads and ads that are reposted from the previous month) paused in February, but the number of new, first-time advertised vacancies continued to rise and is an indication that employers are continuing to look for workers,” said June Shelp, vice president at The Conference Board. “Nationally, new ads were up 86,100 in February, and that is a positive sign in contrast to the last few years when advertised vacancies either dropped or remained unchanged from January to February.”

Nationally, there were 9.6 million more unemployed workers than advertised vacancies in January -- the latest month for which unemployment data are available.

Labor demand in the overall economy has added 1.41 million online postings since the series’ low point in April, 2009. This increase offsets approximately 80% of the 1.76 million drop in ad volume during the two-year downturn period from April 2007 through April 2009.