Health Care Adds 30,500 Jobs in October

Health care added 30,500 jobs in October as the overall U.S. economy gained 171,000 new jobs, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The U.S. unemployment rate last month was 7.9 percent compared with 7.8 percent in September.

Health care employment totaled 14.45 million as of October. For the year ended in October, health care hiring increased by 296,300, or 2.1 percent. Last month's health care hiring was above the monthly average for the prior 12 months of 24,700 new jobs.

Hospitals added 6,200 jobs last month—an increase of about 0.1 percent—bringing the sector's employment to 4.84 million, according to the preliminary figures. The gains were close to the monthly average of 6,800 for the prior 12-month period. For the year that ended last month, hospitals added 81,400 to payrolls, an increase of 1.7 percent.

Physician offices added 11,200 jobs in October, an increase of 0.5 percent over September, bringing total physician-office employment to 2.45 million. For the prior 12 months, physician offices added an average of 5,700 jobs per month.

For the year ended last month, physician offices added 68,300 jobs—a gain of 2.9 percent.

Melanie Evans writes for Modern Healthcare, a sister publication of Workforce Management. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

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