From February through April, more than 1.5 million healthcare jobs were lost as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, affecting more women than men, a new study of federal data by the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed.
The foundation examined data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics June 5.
The data shows unemployment among women who normally work in hospitals rose from 1.4 percent to 3.7 percent from May 2019 to May 2020. The increase for men who normally work in hospitals was similar over the same period (0.8 percent to 3.2 percent), according to the analysis.
But data shows unemployment among women who normally work in healthcare settings that aren't hospitals climbed from 3 percent to 11.2 percent from May 2019 to May 2020. That compares to unemployment among men who normally work in nonhospital healthcare settings, which increased at a lower rate, from 1.7 percent to 6.8 percent.
Overall, healthcare employment has started to rebound. Healthcare added 312,400 jobs in May, primarily in ambulatory healthcare services, compared to 43,000 healthcare jobs lost in March and 1.4 million healthcare jobs lost in April.
Still, job losses at hospitals continued, though there were far fewer in May than in April. Hospitals lost 26,700 jobs last month, compared to the 134,900 positions they lost in April.