Overall nonfarm employment increased by 175,000 jobs in May. The unemployment rate, however, rose to 7.6% from 7.5% as more people looked for work, according to the BLS.
In January the sector added 9,200 jobs. January was also the only other month this year, besides May, that saw a decline in hospital job growth. Hospital jobs in January dropped by 4,400.
While hospitals had a down month, outpatient care centers and home healthcare continued to make up for the decline. Home healthcare enjoyed its biggest month of the year, adding 12,900 jobs. Outpatient care centers also saw large growth, adding the second-most job total of 2013 with 3,500 jobs.
Ambulatory care also motored along at about the same rate as past months and added about 15,300 jobs. Meanwhile, physician offices added 4,700 jobs compared to 6,200 jobs in April.
Don't expect a downward spiral in terms of hospital job growth, said Mark Smith, president of Merritt Hawkins & Associates, a division of AMN Healthcare.
“It gets your attention when you see a drop of 6K, but you also forget how much the sector has grown in the past year,” Smith said.
Hospitals have added 48,800 jobs since May 2012, for a monthly average of more than 4,066 new jobs. Job reductions from consolidations could be one reason for the sudden drop, he said. Decreases in the hospital sector could happen from time to time as reform has fueled merger and acquisition activity. Those deals come with the promise to eliminate job redundancies to promote efficiency. Another reason could be the increase in outpatient care, as growth in that area indicates a reshuffling of resources from the hospital setting, Smith said.
The home health sector consistently sees large amounts of growth, and home health aides placed No. 1 in CareerBuilder's ranking of the top 10 healthcare occupations expected to have the most growth by 2023. The job-search website counts 1.1 million home health aides jobs as of now, and projects that to rise by 44%, or 1.6 million by 2023. The list also included diagnostic medical sonographers, physical therapist assistants, occupation therapy assistants, physical therapists aides, audiologists, physical therapists, emergency medical technicians and paramedics.
CareerBuilder.com has seen a 13% to 15% increase in hospital job listings over the past year, said Jason Lovelace, president of the website's healthcare division. That growth is a good indicator that hospitals will continue to be a stable employer, regardless of the condition of the economy, he added.
Lovelace blamed some of the recent fall off on seasonality, saying some patients may elect to postpone major surgeries for the colder months. That could affect staffing. A cut in temporary workers, such as those who staff pop-up flu vaccination clinics, could also have an impact on the number of hospital jobs. There's no change in the number of clinician jobs available, and Lovelace is seeing a jump in healthcare jobs that don't require a lot of training or education.
“There's more and more proof that people might not have to have an advanced degree to have a career in healthcare,” Lovelace said.
Follow Ashok Selvam on Twitter: @MH_aselvam
