Hospitals led healthcare hiring surge in June

Healthcare hiring increased substantially in June, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data published Friday.

Employers in the sector added an estimated 56,700 jobs, up from 15,300 in May, preliminary data show. The industry contributed 15.2% of the 372,000 hires made across the economy in June and added the third-most jobs among all categories.

Over the past year, healthcare employers have added 302,400 jobs. The industry is down 176,000 positions, about 1.1%, from February 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S. Healthcare employment has continued on an upward trend toward its pre-pandemic level for nearly a year.

The BLS also revised its April and May data. Healthcare companies made 15,300 fewer hires in those months than previously reported, according to the agency. Overall, the economy added 74,000 fewer jobs in April and May than the BLS originally estimated.

Hospitals continued their resurgence and led the healthcare industry with 20,500 hires, reaching their highest employment level during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Home healthcare services added 9,000 jobs after losing several thousand the previous month. The sector has risen well above its pre-pandemic levels.

Physician offices added 5,800 positions, continuing the sector's stable growth. Nursing care facilities, which brought on 5,400 workers, still employ more than 200,000 fewer people than in February 2020.

Outpatient care centers made 5,000 hires, and offices of dentists and other health practitioners added 3,400 jobs and 3,700 jobs, respectively.

The only sector in healthcare that didn't increase hiring was other ambulatory care services, which gained no positions.

The overall jobless rate has held steady for the past few months at 3.6%, and approximately 5.9 million people were unemployed in June, the BLS report shows. The jobless rate was 3.5% in February 2020. An estimated 2.1 million people reported being unable to work last month due to closures or lost business linked to the pandemic, a number essentially unchanged from May.

Professional and business services reported the largest gains, with an estimated 74,000 new jobs, followed by leisure and hospitality employers, which made 67,000 hires.