Dive Brief:
- The healthcare industry grew by 44,000 jobs during the month of April, continuing the sector's ongoing hiring surge, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
- Those 44,000 jobs represent more than a quarter of the 160,000 created during April across all hiring sectors, Healthcare Finance reports.
- Meanwhile, the U.S. unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5% as gains also occurred in professional and business services as well as financial activities, but losses continued in mining.
Dive Insight:
The April numbers showed a bump upward compared to the previous months during which healthcare added 37,000 jobs in March (described by the BLS as in line with the average monthly increase during the prior 12 months) and 38,100 jobs in February.
The latest month also differed in that it saw hospitals add the most jobs at 22,900 for April, ahead of ambulatory services which added 19,300 jobs. Those ambulatory jobs for April were led by outpatient care centers with 6,400 added jobs, and physicians offices with 2,000 added jobs. The only healthcare category to lose jobs was residential mental health facilities which lost 1,600 jobs.
The healthcare sector has added a total of 502,000 jobs during the past 12 months, according to the BLS.
Whether that's good news is up for debate, considering the growing employment adds to the cost of healthcare and appears at adds with the trends toward hospital consolidations and closures.