Hiring surged in June, according to the June 2021 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Hiring Situation Report, which showed that 850,000 new jobs were gained last month. The increase was the largest in 10 months and the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.9% from 5.8% the month prior. Most of the growth was seen in the service sector, reflecting signs of economic improvement.
That said, the healthcare sector lost 12,000 jobs in June, with hospitals recording a third straight month of job losses. Hospitals lost 5,500 jobs, and nursing homes lost 9,600 jobs in June. Those losses were slightly offset by 2,900 new jobs in ambulatory services. After seeing modest gains at the start of 2021, hospitals have recorded 10,200 job losses since April. Overall 537,000 healthcare jobs have been lost since the start of the pandemic in February 2020, with nursing homes making up the majority of the loss (-360,000), while hospitals have accounted for nearly one-fifth of all losses (-102,000) jobs. The only portion of the healthcare sector which saw growth throughout the pandemic has been within ambulatory care, which gained 75,400 jobs during the same time period.
