Expanded Coverage Appears To Explain Much Of The Recent Increase In Health Job Growth

The rate of health sector hiring started to increase in the middle of 2014, and has continued to accelerate through the first three quarters of 2015. The timing of this acceleration corresponds to the recent expansion of health insurance coverage, but thus far there is little direct evidence of a relationship between expanded coverage and health jobs. We use state-level data on health jobs and insurance coverage to show that much of the acceleration in health jobs can be explained by expanded coverage. This suggests that as insurance coverage stabilizes, health job growth should revert back to more typical historical levels, providing some comfort to those concerned that the recent jump in the health spending growth rate is permanent. The Acceleration In Health Jobs Figure 1 provides a long term view of year-over-year health and nonhealth job growth (see Note 1). After a slump in the rate of hiring in 2013, the pace has ramped steadily upward to its highest value since the early 2000s. Hospitals have been a driver of both the slow job growth in 2013 and the recent acceleration. Figure 1: Percentage Growth In Health Jobs (Year-Over-Year) Source: Altarum Health Sector Economic Indicators Labor Brief, November 2015 For the three 12-month periods between June 2012 and June 2015, health jobs grew by 1.5 percent, 1.2 percent, and 3.0 percent, respectively. The slowdown in the middle year, from mid-2013 to mid-2014, was largely driven by a loss of hospital jobs, and it may have bee...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Health Professionals Insurance and Coverage American Community Survey Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics health sector jobs Source Type: blogs