Specifics of the 2024 U.S. labor market remain to be seen. However, there have been some 2023 trends to note moving into next year, including higher labor force participation, wage gains and a strong healthcare industry.
As the pandemic hit, healthcare employment dropped as workers exited their organizations for various reasons. Use of healthcare services also dropped as organizations canceled elective procedures and social distancing recommendations kept patients away from facilities.
Although hospitals and health systems continue to face shortages and other workforce challenges, employment in the industry has experienced trends more in line with the pre-pandemic labor market.
Here are 14 numbers that illustrate healthcare's labor comeback.
1. Between February and December 2020, healthcare employment fell by 502,000 jobs, according to Bureau of Labor Statics data. But job growth in healthcare averaged 49,000 per month in 2022, considerably above the average monthly gain of 9,000 in the year prior.
2. In November 2023, healthcare added 77,000 jobs, higher than the average monthly gain of 54,000 over the previous 12 months, according to the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released Dec. 8. Last month, job gains continued in ambulatory healthcare services (36,000), hospitals (24,000), and nursing and residential care facilities (17,000).
3. U.S. job openings decreased to 8.7 million in October, the fewest since March 2021, led by healthcare and social assistance employers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which released its latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary on Dec. 5. The report said openings were down 617,000 from September. In the healthcare and social assistance sector, the drop in openings was particularly sharp. The sector reported 1.5 million openings in October, down from 1.7 million the month prior.
4. An analysis of monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data released by Altarum in September found that healthcare employment was 3.2% above where it was before the pandemic began in February 2020 and was above the 2.6% increase in non-healthcare employment over the same period.
5. As of early November, the Indeed Job Postings Index, which tracks the percentage change in Indeed job postings, was down 22.5% from its December 2021 peak. Sectors such as software development, information design and documentation, and mathematics saw the largest declines. Sectors such as restaurants, hotels and hospitals continued to see hiring demand.