U.S. healthcare jobs nearly double in January
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Healthcare jobs in the United States (U.S.) surged to 70,000 in January, up from the 38,000 it gained in December 2023, according to preliminary data.
The latest employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that ambulatory health services accounted for 33,000 of the 70,000 new healthcare jobs in January. Hospitals accounted for 20,000 new jobs, and nursing and residential care facilities accounted for 17,000.
Nonfarm payroll in the country rose by 353,000. New healthcare jobs make up for 20% of the January tally in the U.S. Job growth in healthcare averaged 58,000 per month in 2023.
According to coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the healthcare industry laid off 58,560 jobs in 2023, the third-most job cuts that year and a 91% increase from 2022. Tech giant Amazon shed 27,000 workers from its healthcare arm in late 2022 and early 2023.
Healthcare layoffs form part of the massive job cuts by high-profile firms from the tech industry. Interestingly, weekly unemployment claims dropped to 218,000 in the week ending February 9 from 227,000 the previous week.
According to experts, job loss data vis-a-vis unemployment benefits claims is marginal and will not snowball into a deep recession. Still, the layoffs are seen as a dysfunction of American capitalism.
“It’s ruthless when it gets down to striving for profitability and creating wealth. It redirects resources very rapidly from one place to another,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, per The Washington Post.
