Healthcare employment continues to rise. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Healthcare industry will continue to be one of the fastest growing industries in the national job market. According to BLS projections the healthcare and social assistance sector is projected to grow at an annual rate of 2.6%, adding 5 million jobs in the ten-year period between 2012 and 2022. That increase is good for “nearly one third of the total projected increase in jobs” (BLS News Release, Employment Projections: 2012-2022 Summary. 12/13/13). So how have we fared so far?
The healthcare industry added around 34,000 jobs in December alone. Here’s the breakdown:
- Ambulatory health care services led the way by adding 16,000 jobs last month
- Nursing and residential care facilities added 11,000
- Hospitals contributed a total 7,000 new jobs
Employment growth in health care averaged 26,000 per month in 2014 and 17,000 per month in 2013. (BLS. “Employment Situation Summary – December 2014). Despite a continuing trend of ACO’s rising operating costs, increasingly demanding regulatory restrictions, a recent survey from US News and World Report of the 100 Best Jobs of 2015 put healthcare jobs in 7 out of the top 10 jobs showing the most growth in this next year.
In fact, “in this period of very slow health care spending growth, the place where spending is growing substantially faster than the economy is hospitals.” Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President of the American Action Forum and a former CBO director goes on to make more positive statements. “When there is income growth, people tend to spend their money on health care as well as on everything else” (US News & World Report).
Spending is projected to grow at an average rate of 6 percent per year from 2013 to 2023, a good 1 percent faster than the overall economy as a whole, but still not as fast as the 7.2 percent growth seen from 1990 to 2008, before the great recession hit. Nevertheless, the healthcare industry is only going to keep growing as the economy continues to recover. About time, too. We’re ready for it. Are you?
Infographic by U.S. News University Directory, your source for the Best Allied Health Programs Online.