Hospital and nursing home job losses mean fewer September healthcare hires

New healthcare hires were down 29% in September from the prior month, with industry employment pulled down by continued losses in hospitals and nursing homes.

Healthcare added an estimated 52,800 jobs last month, compared with 74,000 in August, preliminary data released Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show.

Within healthcare, the ambulatory sector—healthcare's largest employment category—added an estimated 52,800 jobs in September, 36% fewer than the 82,900 jobs added in August. August's figure has been revised up from its preliminary total.

Within the ambulatory sector, physicians' offices added an estimated 18,200 jobs, more than any sector in healthcare and down from 26,200 in August. Dentists' offices added just 3,900 jobs last month, down significantly from 18,400 in August. September was a good month for offices of other healthcare practitioners, which added 13,800 jobs, down from 13,100 in August.

Hospitals closed out September with an estimated 6,400 fewer jobs than when the month began. That's compared with 8,500 new hires in August, a number the BLS revised down from its original estimate.

Nursing home employment shrunk by an estimated 4,800 jobs in September, after losing 9,300 in August.

Nursing homes, otherwise known as skilled nursing facilities, are taking much longer to recover volumes lost during the pandemic than home health, Avalere Health found in an analysis released this week. The pandemic has exposed longstanding infection control and staffing problems in such facilities, and has prompted people to avoid them. At least in the short term, home health seems to be benefiting from that trend, although it's unclear if that will continue longterm.

Home health added an estimated 16,200 jobs in September, the strongest hiring sector in healthcare behind physicians' offices. That's compared with 14,400 home health jobs added in August.

Total nonfarm employment grew by 661,000 in September, bringing the unemployment rate down 0.5 percentage points to 7.9%. The number of unemployed people fell by 1 million to 12.6 million.