Healthcare hiring continued to slide in May

Hiring in the healthcare sector had been gradually trending upward since summer 2017 until it began to plummet in April and again in May.

Last month's healthcare hiring—15,700 new jobs—was the weakest since September 2017. May saw 42% fewer hires than in April and 69% fewer than in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest jobs report, released Friday.

The federal government retroactively revised its March hiring upward to 49,900 jobs added, which means that month now tops December 2018's historic high, a number the government has since revised down. March now holds the record for the most new hires since at least February 1990, the earliest month in Modern Healthcare's monthly jobs data.

Healthcare's highest gains were in the ambulatory sector, which added 12,200 jobs, swallowing 78% of total healthcare job growth, but down 29% from April. Within ambulatory, physicians' offices made 7,900 new hires, up 60% from the prior month, and offices of other healthcare practitioners added 2,700 jobs. Dentists' offices added 800 jobs.

Home health had been a leader in job growth in recent months, but netted no new hires in May. Outpatient care centers added just 200 jobs, and other ambulatory healthcare services lost 500 jobs.

Hiring in the nursing and residential care sector was also slow in May, having added just 500 jobs. Residential mental health facilities lost 100 jobs—far fewer than the 1,400 shed in April—and other residential care facilities added 500 jobs. Hiring was flat in both community care facilities for the elderly and nursing care facilities.

The BLS said overall, healthcare has added 391,000 jobs over the past 12 months.

In May, healthcare hiring beat the construction industry, which added just 4,000 jobs. Employment in other industries showed little change over the prior month, including in mining, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, hospitality and transportation. The exception was professional and business services, which made 33,000 new hires in May.