The healthcare sector remains one of the top sectors to experience notable monthly job gains.
Employment in the healthcare sector saw notable gains during the month of October, according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employment situation summary.
Following the month prior where the sector returned to its pre-pandemic level, healthcare rose by 53,000 jobs in October.
The ambulatory healthcare sector gained 31,000 jobs, with notable gains found in physicians' offices (+10,000) and home healthcare services (+6,000). Additionally, nursing and residential facilities and hospitals both gained 11,000 jobs each.
During the year, so far, the healthcare sector has gained:
- 18,000 jobs in January
- 64,000 in February
- 8,000 in March
- 34,000 in April
- 28,000 in May
- 57,000 in June
- 70,000 in July
- 48,000 in August
- 60,000 in September
So far in 2022, healthcare sector employment has increased by an average of 47,000 a month, according to the BLS. In 2021, the healthcare sector only gained on average 9,000 jobs a month.
Total nonfarm employment rose by 261,000 in October, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, according to the BLS. Along with the healthcare sector, professional and technical services, and manufacturing, were among the notable job gains during the month.
On average, total nonfarm employment saw an increase of 407,000 jobs on average per month, which is lower than the 562,000 monthly job growth seen in 2021.
BLS reported that Hurricane Ian, which wreaked havoc across southwestern Florida, had no discernible effect on employment and unemployment data for September or October.
Melanie Blackman is a contributing editor for strategy, marketing, and human resources at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.