Online ads for healthcare practitioners and technical workers rose by 12,400 listings to 555,500 in November, the largest increase of any job sector for the second consecutive month, and vacancies for the skilled providers outnumber qualified job seekers by almost 3 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, attributed the uptick to "advertised vacancies for family and general practitioners."
Healthcare support vacancy listings held steady with an increase of 600 listings to 112,600. There were 2.4 unemployed people 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, and 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 on Friday its employment statistics for November, 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.
In the overall economy, online advertised vacancies rose 47,400 in November to 4,457,200, following an increase of 113,700 in October, The Conference Board reports.
"In November, demand for workers continued to be positive, albeit moving at a disappointingly slow pace for the last few months," said June Shelp, vice president at The Conference Board. "November was a surprisingly quiet month throughout the nation, with most states posting small gains/losses in advertised vacancies. In this weak U.S. economic recovery, office help, construction jobs, and positions in business and finance continue to show very sluggish growth."
The nation's supply/demand rate stood at 3.27 unemployed for every advertised vacancy in October (the last available unemployment data), down from a peak of 4.73 in October 2009. Nationally, there are 10.4 million more unemployed than advertised vacancies, The Conference Board reports.
The Conference Board also reported a modest increase in demand for transportation and material sector jobs, and a decline in demand for sales and sales management positions.
John Commins is the news editor for HealthLeaders.