Health care employment growth decreased during the pandemic but recovered by 2024, according to a research letter published online June 5 in the JAMA.
Thuy Nguyen, Ph.D., from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, and colleagues used industry- and national-level employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2016 to 2024 Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages to assess health care employment changes relative to changes in non-health care sectors during the same period.
Using data from the prepandemic period, predicted employment levels were generated for the postpandemic period to simulate what employment levels would have been in the absence of the pandemic, assuming continuation of prepandemic trends.
The researchers found that health care employment decreased by 6.9% between quarter 4 of 2019 and quarter 2 of 2020 relative to predicted levels in absence of the pandemic. Aggregated health care employment recovered, increasing in quarter 3 of 2024, to 0.2% below predicted levels.
In contrast, non-health care employment declined to 11.4% below predicted levels in quarter 2 of 2020. In quarter 3 of 2024, non-health care employment had recovered more slowly than health care employment (2.9% below predicted levels). There was variation in recovery patterns by health care subsectors.
“Health care employment growth decreased amid the pandemic but fully recovered by 2024,” the authors write. “This recovery contrasts with non-health care employment trends and may result from health care financing via insurance coverage shielding health care employment from macroeconomic fluctuations.”
More information:
Thuy Nguyen et al, Health Care Workforce Recovery After the End of the COVID-19 Emergency, JAMA (2025). DOI: 10.1001/jama.2025.8588
Citation:
Health care job growth dropped during pandemic, recovered by 2024 ( 11)
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