Physician offices lead the pack in job creation

Physicians are doing their part to improve the economy. Healthcare employment grew by 12,000 jobs in October, with 8,000 of those jobs in doctors’ offices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In the last year, healthcare has added 313,000 jobs despite the lackluster economy. Job growth in September was the largest in 9 years for healthcare, with the addition of 45,000 jobs, according to Altarum Institute’s Center for Sustainable Health Spending. Despite the drop from September to October, the center’s brief on labor trends said that “employment momentum still shows an upward trend, and the healthcare share of total employment remains at an all-time high of 10.8%, given only modest growth in the rest of the economy.”

The Altarum Institute also pointed out that although hospitals and nursing care facilities added slightly fewer jobs than average, “physician offices continued to show strong growth similar to the previous 3 months.” Hiring at dental offices, labs, and offices of other healthcare practitioners was not as robust; their workforce fell by a combined 8,000 jobs.

Monster.com, a leading job search site, called healthcare the “countercyclical career success story of the great recession” and pointed to BLS projections that healthcare and related social-assistance employment will expand by nearly 4 million jobs, to 19.8 million, between 2008 and 2018.

Among the most in-demand positions are health information technology (HIT) professionals, and two major organizations are joining forces to make sure enough professionals are available to hire. To support both job seekers and employers, the Health Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) and the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration will work together to expand the HIT workforce over the next several years. The two groups will share links, resources, and white papers on their Web sites.

“This collaborative synergistic effort will help further communication between those seeking IT positions and those seeking qualified IT applicants, a familiar situation in today’s healthcare landscape,” said Helen Figge, HIMSS senior director, career services.

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