Healthcare has become the biggest driver of jobs in the U.S., with the education and health services supersector accounting for more job gains than all other private-sector industries combined by early 2025, according to a March 24 ADP report.
The report, published in ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson, PhD’s weekly “Main Street Macro” blog, draws on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.
Here are seven things to know from the report:
1. Between January 2000 and January 2025, the education and health services supersector grew from 13% of private-sector employment to nearly 20%, an expansion unmatched by any other sector. Healthcare alone could become the largest private-sector employment category within the next decade, according to the report.
2. The supersector’s overall growth is being driven largely by healthcare, which accounts for about 88% of total employment within the education and health services supersector.
3. Ambulatory healthcare services — which include outpatient care and home health — increased their share of healthcare employment from 34% to 40% between January 2000 and January 2025.
4. Within ambulatory care, growth has been strongest in home health services and outpatient care centers, reflecting a broader shift toward care delivered outside traditional hospital settings.
5. Nursing and residential care facilities saw their share of healthcare employment decline from 21% to 15% over the same period.
6. Hospital employment also declined as a share of the healthcare workforce, falling from 32% to 24% between January 2000 and January 2025.
7. The shift reflects changing patient preferences and demographics. “Our analysis suggests that this aging population might be driving both large gains and compositional changes in healthcare employment, with the trend moving toward at-home care and away from convalescent care and assisted-living facilities,” ADP said.
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