Skip to main content
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Digital Health
    • Transformation
    • ESG
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Opinion
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • Data Center
    • Data Center Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • Newsletters
  • MORE+
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Providers
August 07, 2020 09:17 AM

Healthcare employment rebound slowed in July

Tara Bannow
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Getty Images/iStockphoto

    If the speedy pace of June's healthcare hiring rebound were an animal, it would be a cheetah. In July, it was more like a tubby housecat.

    The healthcare industry added an estimated 125,500 jobs last month, far fewer than the 351,600 added in June, according to preliminary Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday. Healthcare has so far regained half of the jobs it lost in spring as providers largely shut down elective care throughout April and into May amid COVID-19 stay-at-home orders and to preserve capacity for coronavirus patients. The industry in July employed almost 800,000 fewer people than it did in February.

    "There definitely still seems to be a resistance to getting back to the previous year's levels until we see a more sustained economic road to recovery," said Ash Shehata, KPMG's national sector leader of healthcare & life sciences.

    Ambulatory services—healthcare's largest employer—took the biggest hit during the shutdown, and it is taking longer than the overall industry to rebound. The sector added 126,200 jobs last month, compared with 367,800 in June. Dentist and physician clinics suffered the most losses at the height of the shutdowns. Ambulatory employment was down just 3.9% in July compared with pre-pandemic January.

    The pace of job recovery is likely tempered by providers' own caution against reopening too quickly, especially in areas where coronavirus cases are surging, Shehata said. In areas like the Southern U.S. where there have been aggressive reopenings, ambulatory providers have been slowed by backlogs in appointments due to pent-up demand.

    Overall, the economy added 1.8 million jobs and the unemployment rate fell 0.9 percentage points to 10.2%. The biggest job gains were in leisure and hospitality and food services and drinking places. The number of people on temporary layoff fell to 9.2 million, about half its April level.

    Hospitals furloughed and laid off employees as they shut down divisions, but that didn't cause as big of an employment hit compared with the ambulatory sector. Hospital employment was down just 1.2% last month from January.

    "I was a little surprised that in hospitals it's not worse than that," said Ani Turner, Altarum's co-director of sustainable health spending strategies.

    Hospitals added an estimated 27,400 jobs in July, far more than the 2,100 they added in June—a number the BLS revised down from its initial June projection of 6,700 jobs.

    That still leaves the question of whether hospitals will continue to regain jobs, or if job growth will level off at a point that's below normal. Federal grants and loans providers received under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act offered a boost, but things are uncertain moving forward, Turner said.

    "We'll see what the final new equilibrium is," she said.

    Nursing homes continue to shed jobs even as the rest of the healthcare industry does the opposite. They lost 17,500 jobs in July and employed 7.7% fewer people last month than in January. Overall, nursing and residential care facilities have shed about 220,000 jobs since March.

    Even before the pandemic, nursing home employment had been shrinking as older adults and their families opted for less intensive residential care facilities in lieu of nursing homes, Turner said.

    COVID-19 has prompted more people to avoid all types of residential facilities for older adults, though, because the coronavirus tended to spread quickly through facilities where residents are older, have chronic conditions and require frequent care.

    The pandemic laid bare long-running infection control and staffing problems in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, which is where a significant proportion of COVID-19 deaths are believed to have occurred.

    It's possible that trend is driving an increased demand for home health services, Shehata said. Indeed, home health added 15,600 jobs in July, after having added 18,100 in June.

    The pace at which healthcare jobs return is going to be a local and even regional story, with wide variation depending on the level of coronavirus activity in an area, Shehata said.

    "If the economy is back to productivity, you're going to see that backlog begin to flow into the healthcare system," he said.

    July change in employment by sector

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    The Check Up: Bobby Sepucha, Interwell Health
    The Check Up: Bobby Sepucha, Interwell Health
    hospital mergers roundtable
    CEOs sound off on mergers, healthcare disruptors
    Most Popular
    1
    More healthcare organizations at risk of credit default, Moody's says
    2
    Centene fills out senior executive team with new president, COO
    3
    SCAN, CareOregon plan to merge into the HealthRight Group
    4
    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan unveils big push that lets physicians take on risk, reap rewards
    5
    Bright Health weighs reverse stock split as delisting looms
    Sponsored Content
    Modern Healthcare A.M. Newsletter: Sign up to receive a comprehensive weekday morning newsletter designed for busy healthcare executives who need the latest and most important healthcare news and analysis.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Digital Health
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • ESG
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Opinion
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Data Center
      • Data Center Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • Newsletters
    • MORE+
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing