Healthcare quietly experienced its most robust job growth this summer since the pandemic recovery, according to a new analysis from Altarum.
Healthcare added 73,000 jobs in July and 70,900 in August 2023. The two-month gain of 143,900 jobs marks the largest since the initial recovery from the COVID-induced recession that began in 2020, according to Altarum's analysis of monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data. Altarum factors BLS data for ambulatory care (including labs, outpatient centers, physician offices and home healthcare), hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities in its analysis.
Ambulatory care settings led healthcare job growth in July and August, adding 77,700 jobs. Hospitals followed, adding 30,600 jobs in the same timeframe.
Altarum reports that healthcare employment is 3.2 percent above where it was before the pandemic began in February 2020 and now exceeds the 2.6 percent increase in non-healthcare employment over the same period. More specifically, hospital employment is 2.1 percent above its pre-pandemic level and ambulatory care setting employment is 7.8 percent higher. Employment in nursing and residential care, on the other hand, is 5.7 percent lower than its pre-pandemic level.
The report also notes that healthcare wage growth in July 2023 was 3.3 percent year over year, lower than the total private sector wage growth of 4.4 percent.