Healthcare hiring rose in July, jobs report shows

Healthcare employers added an estimated 69,600 jobs in July as hiring rose from the previous month, according to preliminary U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday.  
 
Healthcare jobs accounted for 13.3% of hires across the economy last month. Ambulatory services, including health practitioners, and hospitals saw the largest gains among healthcare employers.  

The sector has added 380,100 jobs in the past year. Healthcare employment continues along an upward trajectory and was down just 78,400 jobs, or 0.48%, in July compared with pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels..

Ambulatory care providers added 47,300 jobs last month, including 16,000 at health practitioners’ offices and 12,800 at doctors’ offices. Hospitals added 12,900 jobs, which could signal some improvement in staff shortages. In June, hospitals added 20,500 jobs. 

Dentist offices made 9,600 hires in July, almost triple the number in June. Nursing and residential care added 9,400 jobs, compared with 5,400 the prior month. Outpatient care centers added 5,700 jobs.

The only healthcare subsectors that shed jobs were other ambulatory services, which reported 400 fewer jobs compared with last month, and other residential care facilities, which lost 300 jobs.  

The overall jobless rate was 3.5% last month, with approximately 5.7 million people unemployed. The unemployment rate has now rebounded to its level from February 2020, the month before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. 

The economy gained 528,000 jobs in July, led by gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and healthcare, the jobs report shows.  An estimated 2.2 million people reported being unable to work last month due to closures or lost business linked to the pandemic. 

The BLS also upwardly revised its May and June data by 28,000 jobs.