Job growth in the healthcare sector is on an uptick, Bureau of Labor Statistics data and preliminary data show.
Hospitals created 10,200 new jobs in March and 19,600 new jobs in the first quarter of 2011, easily outstripping the 3,700 hospital jobs created in the first quarter of 2010, according to the BLS.
The healthcare sector – everything from hospitals to podiatrists' offices to kidney dialysis centers – created 36,600 new jobs in March, and 82,600 new jobs in the first quarter, and now employs slightly more than 14 million people. Healthcare created 63,200 new jobs in the first quarter of 2010, BLS preliminary data show.
Healthcare sector employment nudged over the 14 million jobs threshold in March for the first time, with 4.7 million jobs at hospitals, nearly 6.1 million jobs in ambulatory services, more than 2.3 million in physicians' offices, and nearly 3.2 million jobs at nursing homes and residential care facilities, BLS preliminary data show.
Ambulatory services accounted for half of the new jobs created in the healthcare sector, with 17,500 new jobs in March, and 45,600 new jobs for the quarter. Ambulatory services created 50,000 new jobs in the first quarter of 2010, BLS preliminary data show.
Physicians' offices reported 7,600 new jobs in March, and 16,500 new jobs in the first quarter, compared with 4,900 jobs in the first quarter of 2010. Nursing and residential care facilities also showed strong job growth in March, creating 8,800 payroll additions for the month, and 17,400 payroll additions in the first quarter, BLS preliminary data show.
BLS data from February and March is preliminary and may be considerably revised in the coming months.
The healthcare sector continues to be one of the few areas of job growth in the sputtering economy. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, healthcare employment has grown by 902,000 jobs, while total nonfarm employment has fallen by 7.2 million, BLS data show.
The larger U.S. economy gained 216,000 jobs in March but the nation's jobless rate was little changed at 8.8% for the month, with 13.5 million people unemployed. The number of long-term unemployed -- people jobless for 27 weeks or longer – was 6.1 million, an increase over the 6 million long-term unemployed reported in February, as their ranks increased from 43.9% to 45.5% of the unemployed, BLS preliminary data show.
John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.