Health care employment rises by 64K jobs in February

Employment in health care rose by 64,000 in February, but overall health care employment remains below levels of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a news release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, February posted job gains in home health care services (20,000), offices of physicians (15,000) and offices of other health practitioners (12,000).

Even so, total employment in the industry was down 306,000 workers, or 1.9% from the level of February 2020, according to the release.

In February, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 678,000. The jobless rate edged down to 3.8% with the total number of unemployed dropping to 6.3 million people, the release said.

The levels remained higher than pre-pandemic figures of February 2020, when the unemployment rate was 3.5% with 5.7 million workers unemployed, according to the federal statistics.

For monthly job gains, leisure and hospitality posted 179,000 new jobs, followed by professional and business services, which added 95,000 jobs in February.Construction added 60,000 jobs in February, transportation and warehousing added 48,000 jobs, while retail trades rose by 37,000, manufacturing by 36,000 and financial activities by 35,000, according to the release.