Last month’s job report showed an
explosion in health jobs versus non-health jobs. Revisions to previous data in
this morning’s very strong jobs report indicate those data were not correct.
Health jobs increased only 0.12 percent in
this morning’s jobs report, versus 0.16 percent for non-health jobs. With 18,000
jobs added, health services accounted for only eight percent of new nonfarm
civilian jobs.
This is a welcome development. The
previous disproportionately high share of job growth in health services was
a deliberate outcome
of Obamacare.
If this trend persists, it will become increasingly hard to carry out reforms
that will improve productivity in the delivery of care.
Ambulatory sites added jobs at a much
faster rate than hospitals (0.41 percent versus 0.21 percent). This was
concentrated in outpatient care centers and home health. This is a good sign
because these are low-cost locations of care (Table I).
Year on year, health jobs still outpace
non-health jobs, having grown 1.6 times faster (2.46 percent versus 1.54
percent). However, jobs in nursing facilities declined a little (Table II).
There was a revision adding jobs to
previous estimates for November and December. However, there was a massive
downward revision of previous estimates of health jobs (Table III).
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