Monthly jobs report shows healthcare hiring stagnating

The U.S. healthcare industry saw little change in employment in September as the nation’s rebound from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic slows.

According to a news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, healthcare lost about 18,000 jobs in September. Nursing and residential care facilities lost 38,000 jobs while hospitals lost 8,000. Meanwhile, ambulatory health care services added about 28,000 jobs.

Overall, healthcare is down 524,000 jobs since February 2020. Nursing and residential facilities account for about four-fifths of that total, the release says.

The nation saw unemployment fall by 0.4 percent to 4.8 percent in September with the number of unemployed people fell by 710,000 to 7.7 million which are down from the economic carnage of the February to April 2020 recession. Yet, these statistics are still above their pre-coronavirus levels, according to the release.

Total nonfarm payroll employment saw an increase of 194,000 jobs in September. Monthly job growth this year has averaged 561,000 leading to nonfarm employment to increase by 17.4 million since the precipitous drop in April 2020, but it is still down by 5 million from pre-pandemic levels. The industries that saw the greatest increases in September included leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, retail trade, and transportation and warehousing, the release says.

The release also gives insight into how the pandemic continues to impact staffing, with 13.2 percent of employed people teleworked in September due to the COVID-19 pandemic, not much of a change from prior months. About 5 million people say that have been unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic, down from 5.6 million in August.

Meanwhile, about 1.6 million people say that they were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic.