Hospitals continue to be job-creating machines

Hospitals are continuing to hire large numbers of new workers, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), while other healthcare professions continue to add jobs as well.

Altogether, hospitals employed a seasonally adjusted 5.023 million people nationwide at the end of January. They added 23,700 jobs during the month when compared to December 2015, and 188,800 compared to January 2015. The entire healthcare sector added 36,800 jobs between December 2015 and the end of January. 

Hospitals have been among the most consistent job creators in recent months, regularly adding jobs in the five figures and often adding more than 20,000 jobs. That is a stark contrast to just a few years ago. In 2013, for example, hospitals added no new jobs to the economy in 2013.

The only other portion of the healthcare sector that added a significant number of jobs between December of last year and this January was ambulatory healthcare services. It added a total of 10,700 jobs. Home healthcare created 6,300 jobs. Physician offices added 6,000 jobs. The offices of other healthcare practitioners added 4,100 jobs. Nursing facilities added 2,400 jobs. Only dental offices, laboratories and other ambulatory healthcare services saw job losses.

Altogether, the entire healthcare sector employed 18.91 million workers at the end of January.

The healthcare sector has been credited with creating a significantly larger number of jobs that pay solid wages than other portions of the U.S. economy.

To learn more:
- read the BLS data