Healthcare share of employment reaches all-time high

Private sector healthcare employment in the United States reached a high of 10.7 percent of total employment, according to a new report from the Altarum Institute’s Center for Studying Health Spending.

This represents an increase of more than a percentage point since the start of the recession in December 2007, when the healthcare employment share stood at 9.5 percent. Altarum’s analysis is based upon data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[See also: Healthcare industry hiring at a steady clip.]

The employment growth in healthcare stands in contrast to the economy at large. While healthcare employment has increased by 6.3 percent since December 2007, non-healthcare employment has fallen by 6.8 percent.

Altarum’s report indicates that January 2011 employment grew in all of the major healthcare settings, with outpatient care centers showing the highest 12-month rate of increase (5.3 percent) and hospitals the lowest (0.7 percent).

“It’s clear from these data that the health sector has helped stabilize the economy and buttressed overall employment following the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression," said Charles Roehrig, MD, director of Altarum’s Center for Studying Health Spending. "During the 19 months of post-recession recovery that officially began in June 2009, non-health employment has actually still declined, but health sector employment has grown every month."

However, he added, "we believe the health sector share is likely to peak in the near future. Although health employment will continue to rise, we expect non-health employment will grow more rapidly so that health employment’s share of the total will stabilize.”

[See also: Job growth data not the whole story.]

The findings come from the first of Altarum’s “Health Sector Economic Indicators” reports. The reports, to be published monthly, are designed to address gaps in health macroeconomic data.

To see the complete first report, visit Altarum’s website.