The health care industry added an estimated 34,300 jobs in April, up from 23,300 in March, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Health care employment grows in April

According to BLS, 428,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in April, and the overall unemployment rate remained steady at 3.6%, marking the third consecutive month the unemployment rate has been under 4%. In February 2020, before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate was 3.5%.

Compared with February 2020, the health care industry is down 250,000 jobs, or around 1.5%. However, health care employment reached its highest point in April since March 2020.

Ambulatory health care services gained 28,000 jobs overall last month. Physician offices saw the largest employment gains, adding 9,800 jobs in April, while home health providers added 7,800 jobs. Both physician offices and home health providers currently employ more people than they did prior to the start of the pandemic.

Hospitals added 4,500 jobs in April, but are still down roughly 100,000 jobs since the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, residential mental health facilities added 3,400 jobs—the largest increase the subsector has seen since September 2020—and medical and diagnostic laboratories added 2,500 jobs, currently employing 27,400 more people than they did before the pandemic.

However, community care facilities and other residential care facilities both lost jobs in April while nursing care facility employment remained roughly the same. Community care facilities lost 1,100 jobs while other residential care facilities lost 1,300 jobs last month, and nursing care facilities added just 900 jobs.

(Devereaux, Modern Healthcare, 5/6; Blackman, HealthLeaders Media, 5/6; Gonzalez, Becker's Hospital Review, 5/6)