Healthcare employment remains sluggish as pandemic continues

April brought more underwhelming employment news for healthcare employment, with nursing homes and hospitals continuing to shed jobs.

Preliminary jobs numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show the number of jobs in healthcare dipped by an estimated 4,100 in April from the prior month, largely because the agency revised upward its preliminary March total by 19,100.

Although healthcare employment gains have been underwhelming in recent months, the industry's April employment total of 16 million jobs was still much higher than its 14.9 million jobs in April 2020, the height of the pandemic's first wave. Healthcare employment is down 542,000 since February 2020.

Hospital employment contracted by an estimated 5,800 jobs last month, although total employment in the sector was unchanged at 5.1 million. The BLS originally estimated that hospitals lost jobs in March, but has since revised that to an upward swing of 5,200 jobs.

As has been the case since the pandemic began, nursing homes saw the biggest losses in April, shedding almost 19,000 jobs. Nursing homes have struggled more than any healthcare sector to rebound.

Home health employment shrunk in April to the tune of 6,700 jobs. Community care facilities for the elderly and other residential care facilities also lost jobs—1,400 and 1,200, respectively.

Ambulatory sector employment grew by an estimated 21,200 jobs in April. Physicians' offices and offices of other healthcare practitioners saw the biggest gains, adding 11,300 and 9,400 jobs, respectively. Last month's growth was slower for dentists' offices, which added just 3,700 jobs and outpatient care centers, which added 3,400 jobs. Growth was even slower for medical and diagnostic laboratories, which added just 1,100 jobs, per the government's preliminary data.

Total nonfarm employment grew by an estimated 266,000 in April. The unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 6.1% and the number of people unemployed was 9.8 million last month. The BLS noted that those numbers are down considerably from their April 2020 highs but remain well above their levels prior to the pandemic. In February 2020, the unemployment rate stood at 3.5%, with 5.7 million people unemployed.

April's total job gains were down from increases of 770,000 in March and 536,000 in February, the BLS noted.

Leisure and hospitality added more jobs than any sector in April as state and local governments continue to ease pandemic-related restrictions. That sector jumped by an estimated 331,000 jobs last month, with 56% of that in food services and drinking places.

Healthcare wasn't the only sector that shed jobs in April. Professional and business services declined by an estimated 111,000 jobs. Manufacturing shrunk by 18,000 jobs.