Nurse, healthcare jobs on the rise

The number of healthcare practitioner jobs were up last month, proving favorable for job seekers. The number of advertised vacancies in the healthcare practitioner and technical occupation category outnumbered job seekers 2.4 to 1 in February, according to The Conference Board data released yesterday. Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations rose 16,600 to 596,900 last month, primarily due to openings in registered nurse positions. Labor demand across industries is up by 227,000 jobs in the first quarter, showing a good sign in the supply-demand rate, in which online advertised vacancies rose 39,900 to 4,423,300 last month. Although unemployment stands at 8.4 million more unemployed than advertised vacancies, the bump in numbers could signal good news. "This reflects both significant gains in labor demand as well as drops in unemployment levels since the end of the recession," Conference Board Vice President June Shelp said.

Last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said healthcare jobs will grow the fastest of all industries during the next 10 years, including 712,000 more registered nurses, 706,000 home health aides and 607,000 personal care aides. Conference Board announcement