Healthcare jobs in 2017: Rising demand overcame policy uncertainty

The ACA policy debate failed to slow down job creation in healthcare, as the industry added another 300,000 jobs in 2017.

Many thought the healthcare industry might not have a blissful 2017, with the incoming presidential administration promising a sweeping change to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Throughout the year, an inconclusive debate erupted over healthcare policy. Repeal and replace became common headlines for much of the year, with dramatic videos of Senate votes leading the nightly news. At year’s end, the ACA remained in effect, though some modifications were made that potentially impair it.

Meanwhile, demand for healthcare services – and for the physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers who provide those services -- continued to be strong despite the policy debate. Recently released year-end data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that healthcare employment remained very healthy. While 2017 job growth didn’t quite reach the lofty levels of 2015 or 2016, it was a robust year nonetheless.

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Ambulatory Care, generally defined as patient care and diagnostic providers that don’t have beds, is the largest employment subsector in healthcare, according to BLS tabulations, accounting for a total of 7.4 million jobs in December 2017. Hospitals employed approximately 5.2 million, while nursing and residential care facilities employed 3.3 million.

Ambulatory Care remains the most dynamic subsector of healthcare employment, consistently logging the leading numbers in employment growth in the healthcare industry. The movement toward value-based care and avoiding hospitalization is a significant driver of employment gains, particularly in home health and occupational care centers.

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While a slowdown in hospital-based jobs was predicted, and hospital job growth in 2017 was 36% lower than in 2016, an increase of nearly 76,000 jobs last year is still significant. It’s important to note that job growth in Ambulatory Care often comes at the expense of hospital employment in the form of clinician turnover. Hospital-based clinicians often migrate to Ambulatory Care settings where the hours and stress levels are perceived to be more manageable.

The macroeconomic forces driving long-range demand for healthcare workers remain very strong. In particular, the number of Americans who are 65 and older is projected to double in the next few decades; people 65 and older utilize significantly more healthcare services – and more complex services – than the general population. This will considerably increase demand for healthcare professionals who provide those services. Other drivers include the improving economy, which is expected to produce more than 10 million new jobs in the next decade. Increased employment means increased healthcare demand, because many of those jobs come with improved healthcare coverage and more income to pay for healthcare.

In addition, shortages of many types of healthcare professionals are expected to grow, including because of the retirement wave of Baby Boomers among physicians, nurses and other health professionals. Replacement jobs will be a major factor boosting the numbers of job openings in healthcare.

The fastest rate of healthcare employment growth in the decade is expected in Ambulatory Care. In fact, one ambulatory care industry -- home healthcare -- is projected to be the fastest growing of any industry in the U.S. economy.

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Healthcare employment has seen more than four years of continuous monthly net increases -- with only two months of net employment decreases in the past ten years. This historic upward trend is expected to continue for a decade or more.

Such projections of robust employment in healthcare should be good news – except that supply cannot meet the demand for healthcare professionals. Nearly half of posted healthcare openings didn’t get filled in 2017 and the gap between job openings and job hires in healthcare has widened. Healthcare providers have been grappling with the task of finding and recruiting enough quality practitioners for years, and it seems that job won’t be any easier in 2018.

[All data in this article is from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.]

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