According to the latest nonfarm payroll jobs report published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care added 44,700 jobs, which exceeded our estimate of 40,000. The overall economy added 263,000 jobs last month, a slight increase over October’s 261,000. These results also exceeded the consensus estimate of 200,000 new jobs for November.
Health care accounted for only 17.0% of new jobs, which is down from October’s 20.2% and the trailing three-month average of 19.5%. Strong services and government job hiring accounted for much of the overall November gains.
The much-watched senior care sector added 10,400 jobs compared to our estimate of 8,000. However, despite this news the sector will remain below pre-pandemic employment for some time. Even if the sector added 10,000 new jobs per month, it’s likely conditions would not return to pre-pandemic employment until the third quarter of 2025.
The takeaway
While other health care sectors’ employment is back to pre-pandemic levels, demand for services continues to outpace supply of necessary labor across all health care services. While senior care operators are in a generally tighter spot, most health care organizations are facing suboptimal employment levels relative to demand. Innovation and technology could bridge what has become a systemic labor shortage.
