Major economic gains were seen in February’s U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Hiring Situation Report, with the economy adding 379,000 new jobs last month as the pandemic’s winter wave recedes.  The unemployment rate inched down to 6.2% in February from 6.3% in January.  Payrolls remain 9.5 million short of pre-crisis levels. 

Within healthcare, 19,900 new jobs were added in February, with strong gains seen in ambulatory care settings (28,900). Other healthcare settings did not fare as well and continued to demonstrate job loss, with 2,200 hospital jobs and 6,800 nursing care facility jobs disappearing last month. Broader employment in health care and social assistance is down by 909,000 over the year.