After seeing a large increase for the first two months of the year, the sector only gained 8,000 jobs at the close of the first quarter.
The newest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report found that the healthcare sector saw little change in job growth for the month of March.
After experiencing a large increase in jobs in January (+18,000) and February (+64,000), healthcare employment only gained 8,000 jobs in March.
The ambulatory sector added 7,000 jobs and hospitals added 5,000, but the struggling nursing and residential care sector offset the gain with a loss of 4,000 jobs.
Healthcare organizations are continuing to combat workforce shortages due to the Great Resignation, pre-COVID-19 pandemic burnout, and exacerbated burnout due to the ongoing pandemic.
Compared to pre-pandemic numbers, healthcare employment is down by 298,000, or 1.8% since February 2020.
In contrast, total nonfarm payroll employment added 431,000 jobs in March, according to BLS, which brough the unemployment rate down .2% to 3.6%. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 318,000 during the month, bringing the total number of unemployed persons to 6 million.
Unemployment numbers continue to creep closer to pre-pandemic levels. In February 2020, unemployment was at 3.5%, with 5.7 million persons unemployed.
Melanie Blackman is a contributing editor for strategy, marketing, and human resources at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.