It’s getting harder to find a job in pretty much every part of the economy — except one.
In the healthcare industry, employment is still quickly growing. Though the number of job openings across the U.S. has dropped significantly and the unemployment rate has risen, the employees that staff the country’s hospitals, doctor’s offices, and assisted-living facilities are still extremely in demand.
Healthcare employment has increased nearly 11% since the beginning of 2022, according to Labor Department data.
Compare that with business and professional services, where employment has grown 3.7% over the same period, or the media, publishing, and data-processing jobs that make up the information sector, for which employment grew just 0.3%. The healthcare sector is a standout in a job market that has recently taken center stage on Wall Street. The Labor Department will release the latest jobs numbers on Friday, and investors will be scouring the report for clues informing interest-rate cuts or a potential recession ahead.
Though the number of job openings in healthcare and social assistance has dropped from pandemic-era highs, the levels remain about 17% higher than they were at the start of 2020. It’s not just doctors and nurses who can easily find work. Medical facilities also need employees who can fill administrative and support roles, such as filing paperwork and serving food in hospital cafeterias, noted Nina Cisneros, healthcare director at Express Healthcare Staffing.
Express, which works with hundreds of health employers across the country, has seen a 20% jump in the number of job postings over just the last couple of weeks, Cisneros said.
“[The job market] is definitely still really strong,” she said. If you’re looking for job security, she added, “healthcare is the way to go.”
The healthcare sector has historically been a safe haven from layoffs and other volatility during rough economic periods, according to Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. Even during the global financial crisis, the industry continued to add jobs.
“It never has those huge setbacks, those huge disruptions,” Pollak said. “It can just sort of keep growing.”
The surge in healthcare hiring over the last few years was driven in part by thousands of workers leaving the industry during the pandemic, with many citing burnout and risks to health and safety as hospitals scrambled to treat huge numbers of COVID-19 patients. Dozens of nursing strikes have broken out at hospitals across the U.S. since 2020, with many workers citing insufficient staffing among their concerns.
‘People need care. That is never going to change.’
— Nina Cisneros, healthcare director at Express Healthcare Staffing
But the healthcare sector isn’t just replacing workers that the industry lost during the pandemic. Demographic trends, too, are driving employment growth, Pollak said. As Americans live longer and access to health insurance increases, demand for healthcare services has continued to climb.
“People need care,” Cisneros added. “That is never going to change.”
Mercer, an employee-benefits company, predicts a shortage of more than 100,000 healthcare workers by 2028. Among the roles predicted to be most in demand are nursing assistants, who are required to obtain only a state-approved credential rather than a medical or bachelor’s degree.
In the near term, healthcare hiring is likely to heat up even more as we enter the cold and flu season in the fall and winter, Cisneros said.
The heightened demand for employees means that many have been able to win higher pay and greater control over their hours.
Which healthcare jobs are in demand?
Among the fastest-growing healthcare industries are home healthcare, diagnostic imaging centers, and ambulatory care, according to a ZipRecruiter analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data conducted for MarketWatch.
Mental health professions are among the most in-demand, with mental health practitioners (such as counselors and psychologists) and physicians (such as psychiatrists) both making the list.