The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) November 2020 Hiring Situation indicated that job growth is stalling, with only 245,000 new jobs gained last month. Payroll employment is still 9.8 million short of pre-crisis levels—at November’s pace, it would take until 2024 to return to pre-crisis employment levels. The unemployment rate edged down to 6.7%.

Within the healthcare sector, 46,000 jobs were gained in November and healthcare employment remains 527,000 lower than in February. Large gains were again seen in ambulatory care settings, with 51,700 in job growth. Hospitals added 4,700 jobs last month. These increases were once again offset by declines in nursing and residential care facility employment.  The healthcare unemployment rate dipped to 3.7 from the previous month, with unemployment within hospitals dropping to 1.6% from 2.8 in November.