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Healthcare Sector Drops 18K Jobs in September

Analysis  |  By John Commins  
   October 08, 2021

Hospital and nursing home job losses were partially offset by gains in the ambulatory care sector. 

The healthcare sector reported 18,000 job losses in September, according to a disappointing employment report issued Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nursing homes accounted for 38,000 job losses, followed by hospitals with 8,000 job losses. Those losses were partially offset by 28,000 job gains in ambulatory care for the month, BLS reported.

The BLS report accounts for employment in mid-September and can be subject to considerable revision.

The healthcare sector has shed 524,000 jobs since the start of the pandemic in February 2020, with hospitals accounting for 93,300 job losses, and nursing homes accounting for 425,700 job losses. Ambulatory services lost 4,700 jobs in that span.

There were 15.9 million people attached to the healthcare sector workforce in September, BLS said.

The larger economy created 194,000 new jobs in September, down from the 235,000 jobs created in August, as the unemployment rate ticked down 0.4 percentage point to 4.8% for the month and the number of unemployed people fell to 7.7 million, BLS reported.

Nonfarm employment has grown by 17.4 million jobs since a April 2020 but is down by 5 million, or 3.3%, from its pre-pandemic level in February 2020.

The bureau also noted that 13.2% of employees teleworked in September because of the coronavirus pandemic, little changed from August.

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


KEY TAKEAWAYS

Nursing homes accounted for 38,000 job losses in September, followed by hospitals with 8,000 job losses.

Those losses were partially offset by 28,000 job gains in ambulatory care for the month.

The healthcare sector has shed 524,000 jobs since the start of the pandemic in February 2020.

Hospitals accounted for 93,300 job losses, nursing homes accounted for 425,700 job losses, and ambulatory services lost 4,700 jobs in that span.

There were 15.9 million people attached to the healthcare sector workforce in September.

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