How healthcare employment fared in 2024

Overall healthcare employment increased year-over-year in 2024 by roughly 660,000 jobs, according to BLS data.

Nursing and residential care facilities surpassed the level of employment they had in January 2020 when the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency. This was the last healthcare sector to hit that milestone.

Overall, nursing and residential care facilities saw a year-over-year increase of 136,400 jobs, reaching 3.4 million.

Most employment growth came from the nursing care facilities sub-sector, which added 57,200 jobs in 2024, though this sub-sector hasn't recovered to its January 2020 employment level.

According to Danny Schmidt, healthcare senior industry analyst at the audit, tax, and consulting firm RSM US, BLS' annual revisions were in line with analysts' expectations in 2024.

Schmidt said that the reduction in employment at medical labs is part of the larger job market normalizing since the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that he's still bullish on the sector despite the job losses, especially considering potential advancements related to artificial intelligence.

"Quicker lab results and earlier disease detection with higher accuracy rates translates into better consumer outcomes at a lower cost," Schmidt said. "This is a good thing for business and consumers."