The labor market has been slowing sharply this summer, with job seekers less likely to head to new positions.
Employers added an average of 35,000 jobs over the three months that close in July. This marks a major slowdown from the approximately 128,000 jobs added each month over the past three months.
Cooldown has collided with almost every industry, including manufacturing, leisure, hospitality, and the federal government.
However, two industries are pushing back against the trend. It's healthcare and social support, the latter consisting of services such as childcare and counseling, the economist told ABC News. Without employment growth in these two sectors, the labour market would have suffered net job losses over the past three months.
“This is a job market with very little growth,” Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Job Post site Glassdoor, told ABC News. “Unfortunately, not many industries are growing consistently robustly.”
“The job market is supported by health care and social support,” Zhao added.
health care
The healthcare sector added 55,000 jobs in July. This reached three of the four jobs added to the entire US economy last month, BLS data showed. Performance in July expanded robust growth dating back several years, the economist said.
“There's an industry that clearly stands out right now, and it's going to be healthcare,” Cory Stahle, an economist at the Employment Lab, told ABC News.
The economists said the Gangbusters, which they employ in the healthcare sector, rely on two overlapping trends. Continuous demand for healthcare from aging and a continuous recovery from unemployment during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unlike discretionary costs such as luxury goods and restaurant meals, healthcare services must be covered by consumers regardless of their financial condition, the economist said.
“Healthcare is a non-love industry,” Stahle said. “If you need healthcare, you need healthcare.”
As baby boomers age, an increase in the share of people experiences such health care needs. Between 2012 and 2050, the population of older adults ages 65 and over is expected to double to about 43 million to 83 million, according to the US Census Bureau, which was discovered in 2014.
The demand for robust consumers is consistent with a shortage of workers in the aftermath of widespread unemployment as healthcare professionals suffered burnout during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Overall employment in the sector has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but new workers are dispersed unevenly, leaving shortages in workplaces such as skilled nursing facilities and intensive behavioral health centres.
“We expect healthcare employment growth to continue as the US population and demand for health services continues to grow,” Zhao said.
Stock Photos of nurses working in hospitals.
Adobe Stock
Social assistance
Social assistance, the provision of support and emergency relief services, constitutes other bright spots in the job market.
The sector added 18,000 jobs in July, accounting for almost one of the four jobs added last month, BLS data showed.
A subset of sectors mentioned by the descriptor “Individual and Family Services” described all the jobs added in July. Such work consists of counseling, welfare and referral services.
Stahle said employers continue to hire for therapist role despite the slower speed in the wider employment market.
If the economy falls into a recession, the industry is likely to continue to grow as support will be needed in cases of economic hardships for most of the population, Zhao said.
“This is a sector that grows even during bad times as the economy is poor and there is a demand for more social assistance when people need those services,” Zhao added.
However, sector positions are usually not fully compensated. The average hourly revenue for social assistance, which was recorded at $23.60 in June, is the most recent month when such data is available. That wage level has fallen well below an average of $36.32 per hour across the private sector, BLS data showed.
