BLS: Health care to lead job growth through 2024

Health care is expected to add more jobs than any other sector through 2024, including at least 394,900 hospital jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected today. In addition to hospitals, the agency anticipates roughly 760,000 new jobs in home health care, 736,000 in nursing and residential care facilities, 523,000 in physician offices, 352,000 in other health practitioner offices, 348,000 in outpatient care centers, and 160,000 in dentist offices. “With the increase in the proportion of the population in older age groups, more people in the labor force will be entering prime retirement age,” the BLS said. “As a result, the labor force participation rate is projected to decrease and labor force growth to slow. This slowdown of labor force growth is expected, in turn, to lead to Gross Domestic Product growth of 2.2% annually over the decade. This economic growth is projected to generate 9.8 million new jobs – a 6.5% increase between 2014 and 2024.”