Dive Brief:
- The healthcare industry added 40,000 new jobs in June, the Department of Labour's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This is a slight decline compared to the 48,000 jobs that were added in May but a significant overall increase. Within the past year, 430,000 healthcare jobs have emerged.
- Ambulatory healthcare jobs experienced the largest increase in June with 22,600 new jobs in that sector.
- Outpatient care centers added the fewest jobs with 2,500 new jobs.
Dive Insight:
These trends are striking because the during 2013 and 2014, healthcare hiring had stalled. However, over the course of one year, healthcare's growth rate has tripled. In March, 135,000 new jobs were added—the amount of jobs that the entire U.S. economy gained between 2001 and 2004.
This is the first time in U.S. history that the healthcare industry has added this amount of jobs over the course of three months.
Reasons for the increase in jobs can be attributed to more healthcare coverage as a result of the Affordable Care Act and through Medicaid expansion. The United States' aging population and improving economy also means that people are receiving more healthcare.
Despite the gains being made with more jobs, it is important to question the effects of these trends. More jobs mean that somebody will have to pay for them, leading to the possibility of more healthcare costs.
"It is tempting to think that rising healthcare employment is a boon, but if the same outcomes can be achieved with lower employment and fewer resources, that leaves extra money to devote to other important public and private priorities such as education, infrastructure, food, shelter and retirement savings," explained Katherine Baicker and Amitabh Chandra in their essay, "The Health Care Jobs Fallacy."