Call it what you want, an overpriced monopoly or an inaccessible mutual fund, our healthcare industry is the relentless undertow of an otherwise stagnant job market. What was one of the nations most debated topics of economic reform after the President’s overhaul back in March of 2010, is now appearing to be the only indefinite spark for job seekers today. The statistics alone are enough to gravitate an unemployed postal service worker toward the less volatile industry they may not have considered in the past.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, healthcare has accounted for approximately 258,000 new jobs in the first three quarters alone – not too shy off the 263,400 total from 2010. Over the past year, it’s creating a staggering average of 27,000 new jobs a month and November showed a 17,000 bump up from that number. Suddenly, it appears healthcare jobs are being handed out like food stamps in the Great Recession. Sorry, Depression. By the end of this year, the booming industry is expected to create somewhere upwards of 344,000 new jobs. Numbers that large have been unheard of since 2007. Put that next to recent monthly payroll addition percentages lingering around 40 percent and you’ll find discouraged job seekers questioning their career paths.
Let’s put those numbers under the microscope though, to get a clearer view of where the hiring actually is. Disregard recent reports released indicating mass layoffs at hospitals around the country and instead feel confident in the 9,000 new jobs created last month alone, not to mention the 70,000+ in 2011 thus far. That’s a gargantuan leap from 19,800 created in 2010, but we’re being told of layoffs?
If that doesn’t convince you, why not consider a career in ambulatory services? They account for 66 percent of healthcare’s new jobs for 2011, which if you do the math is 155,200 and around 25,000 last month if you’re really curious. (2010 only posted 128,300 total new jobs for this position.) However, that job can call for a strong stomach sometimes and you might have lost that when you lost your job. No worries, though. Within this sub-sector, new jobs in physicians’ offices have amassed around 60,000 this year and are likely to continue growing.
This trend of job opportunities is as easily explained as picturing a line on a chart going up, with new jobs on the y-axis. It’s not rocket science. It’s healthcare. And it’s the brightest light amidst the dismal job market right now. One final pitch for the non-believers: Currently there are about 14 million people employed by the healthcare industry and currently the unemployment rate is still around 9 percent in the United States which ironically equates to about 14 million people. Just saying…
SOURCE: Health Leaders Media
IMAGE: Courtesy of Rehoboth Ambulance Committee, Inc
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