Health care employment grew by 31,000 in July

Before you jump out of your clinical career, consider what's happening in the job market today. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Health care employment grew by 31,000 in July. Ambulatory health care services  and hospitals each added 14,000 jobs over the month. Over the past 12 months, health care employment has grown by 299,000.

While unemployment remains relatively unchanged at 9.1 percent, health care professionals are finding jobs. By leaving clinical medicine, will you be sacrificing job security?

Employment statistics based on your education

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has published an interesting article comparing employment statistics (and unemployment statistics) based on your education. As expected, if you have a college degree or higher, then you're more likely to have a job and you're more likely to be receiving a higher salary. Some interesting statistics:

For the College Educated: Increasing Employment ...

... Lower Unemployment ...

... and Higher Earnings

You can read the entire story here: Back to College BLS Spotlight on Statistics

Average physician salaries according to the Bureau of Labor Services

What does the U.S. Bureau of Labor Services (BLS) report as the average salary of a physician?

http://www.graduan2u.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/salary_jobs.jpg"In 2008, physicians practicing primary care had total median annual compensation of $186,044, and physicians practicing in medical specialties earned total median annual compensation of $339,738."

Let's look at a few specific specialties, in ascending order:

General Pediatricians $161,410
Psychiatrists $163,660
Family and General Practitioners $168,550
General Internists $183,990
Obstetricians and Gynecologists $204,470
Anesthesiologists $211,750
Surgeons $219,770

Physicians and Surgeons, All Other $173,860

These BLS numbers are much lower compared to the salary survey statistics you may find through the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) or the American Medical Group Association (AMGA). For instance, the AMGA reports the average salary for Anesthesiologists as $366,640. So, who's right? I suppose we'll never know.

Health care added 27,000 jobs in July

Here's an "Employment Situation" update from the BLS:

• Health care added 27,000 jobs in July.
• Over the past 12 months, health care employment has risen by 231,000.
• Employment in professional and business services was little changed (-13,000) in July. The number of jobs in temporary help services showed little movement (-6,000) over the month.
• Employment in financial activities continued to trend down in July, with a decline of 17,000. So far this year, monthly job losses in the industry have averaged 12,000, compared with an average monthly job loss of  29,000 for all of 2009.

Both the number of unemployed persons, at 14.6 million, and the unemployment rate, at 9.5 percent, were unchanged in July.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

217,000 new jobs in the heatlh care industry

According to the July 2010 report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the health care industry gained 217,000 jobs over the past 12 months. We saw roughly 9,000 new jobs in the month of June.

Is the health care industry "recession-proof" as some would like to think? It's probably more "recession-resistant" compared to many other industries, but I wouldn't say that it's recession-proof. I know quite a few doctors who are having difficulty finding employment right now.

In June, the unemployment rate was 9.5%. There are approximately 14.2 million people who are unemployed right now. Maybe you're one of them and you're thinking about a career change. Perhaps it's time to go back to school or find an entry-level position so that you can effectively "break in" to a brand new industry.

Actuarial science

The other day, someone asked me if I was familiar with career opportunities for people who wish to pursue actuarial science. Are you familiar with actuaries?

Here are some interesting snippets from the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics website on Actuaries:

Most actuaries are employed in the insurance industry, specializing in either property and casualty insurance or life and health insurance. They use sophisticated modeling techniques to forecast the likelihood of certain events occurring, and the impact these events will have on claims and potential losses for the company.


Within the life and health insurance fields, actuaries help companies develop health and long-term-care insurance policies by predicting the likelihood of occurrence of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, and other chronic ailments among a particular group of people who have something in common, such as living in a certain area or having a family history of illness. Such work of actuaries can be beneficial to both the consumer and the company because the ability to accurately predict the likelihood of a particular health event among a certain group ensures that premiums are assessed fairly based on the risk to the company. Additionally, life insurance actuaries help companies develop annuity and life insurance policies for individuals by estimating how long someone is expected to live.

U.S. Employers Slash 20,000 Jobs

The Wall Street Journal puts it this way: "U.S. Employers Slash 20,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 9.7%"

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

• The unemployment rate declined from 10.0 to 9.7 percent in January.
• In January, the number of unemployed persons decreased to 14.8 million.
• Health care employment continued to rise in January.
• Ambulatory health care services added 15,000 jobs over the month.

It's good to see growth in the health care sector. We're certainly also going to see growth in the health information technology industry as companies and hospitals receive some ARRA stimulus funds related to the HITECH provisions. Will that be enough to stimulate the economy back to life?

Health care job growth last month

As we start this New Year, I often wonder how our economy will change in 2010. We're in a recession, but it may not feel like a recession to those working in the health care industry. Here are some stats from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

In December, both the number of unemployed persons, at 15.3 million, and the
unemployment rate, at 10.0 percent, were unchanged. At the start of the re-
cession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons was 7.7 million,
and the unemployment rate was 5.0 percent.

There's no surprise there. However, here's where it gets interesting:

Health care employment continued to increase in December (22,000), with notable
gains in offices of physicians (9,000) and home health care services (8,000).
The health care industry has added 631,000 jobs since the recession began.

Wow! Can you believe that employment within the health care industry increased last month? Companies may not do much hiring over the holidays, but hospitals and clinics need workers. Home health care services saw some significant growth last month and I'm sure we'll continue to see tremendous growth as America's aging population requires additional home health services.

You can read about last month's employment stats by visiting the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics