Healthcare Sector Drives U.S. Job Growth

More than one in four of the 117,000 new jobs created in the U.S. economy in July were in healthcare, according to preliminary figures from the Bureau of Labor Statics

Healthcare created 31,300 new jobs for the month and 170,900 new jobs in the first seven months of 2011. The healthcare sector has accounted for 18.4% of the 930,000 non-farm payroll additions in the overall economy so far this year, BLS preliminary data show.

A further breakdown of BLS preliminary data shows that within the healthcare sector, hospitals gained 14,000 new jobs for July, despite widespread reports of layoffs due primarily to state Medicaid cuts. Hospitals lost 2,000 jobs in June, but have created 47,800 new jobs for the first seven months of 2011. By comparison, in the first seven months of 2010, hospitals created 10,300 new jobs, BLS data and preliminary data show.

Ambulatory services created 14,100 new jobs in July, after posting 13,700 new jobs in June, and has been responsible for 55% (94,000) of new jobs in healthcare in the first seven months of 2011,. Ambulatory services created 95,000 new jobs in the first six months of 2010, BLS data and preliminary data show.

Physicians' offices reported 6,300 payroll additions in July and 30,600 new jobs so far in 2011. Physicians' offices created 9,400 new jobs in the first seven months of 2010, BLS data and preliminary data show.

Some smaller subsectors in the healthcare industry saw job losses in July. For example, outpatient care centers and nursing care facilities each reported 500 payroll reductions, BLS preliminary data show.

BLS data from June and July are preliminary and may be considerably revised in the coming months.

The healthcare sector accounted for nearly 14.1 million of the nation’s jobs in July, with more than 4.7 million jobs at hospitals, more than 6.1 million jobs in ambulatory services, and more than 2.3 million jobs in physicians' offices, BLS preliminary data show.

Nonfarm job growth in the larger U.S. economy gained slightly in July, with 117,000 payroll additions reported. The nation's unemployment rate remained essentially unchanged at 9.1%, with 13.9 million people unemployed.

The number of people unemployed for less than five weeks fell by 387,000 in July. The number of long-term unemployed—people jobless for 27 weeks or longer—was 6.2 million in June, and represented 44.4% of the unemployed, BLS preliminary data show.