Wage and salary employment in the health services industry is projected to increase 28 percent through 2012, compared with 16 percent for all industries combined. Employment growth is expected to account for about 3.5 million new wage and salary jobs-16 percent of all wage and salary jobs added to the economy over the 2002-12 period. Projected rates of employment growth for the various segments of the industry range from 12.8 percent in hospitals, the largest and slowest-growing industry segment, to 55.8 percent in the much smaller home healthcare services.
Many of the occupations projected to grow the fastest in the economy are concentrated in the health services industry. For example, over the 2002-12 period, total employment of medical assistants-including the self-employed-is projected to increase by 59 percent, physician assistants by 49 percent, home health aides by 48 percent, and medical records and health information technicians by 47 percent.
Employment in health services will continue to grow for several reasons. The number of people in older age groups, with much greater than average healthcare needs, will grow faster than the total population between 2002 and 2012, increasing the demand for health services, especially home healthcare and nursing and residential care. Advances in medical technology will continue to improve the survival rate of severely ill and injured patients, who will then need extensive therapy and care. New technologies will enable conditions not previously treatable to be identified and treated. Medical group practices and integrated health systems will become larger and more complex, increasing the need for office and administrative support workers. Also contributing to industry growth will be the shift from inpatient to less expensive outpatient care, made possible by technological improvements and consumers’ increasing awareness of, and emphasis on, all aspects of health. All these factors will ensure robust growth in this massive, diverse industry.
Employment growth in the hospital segment will be the slowest within the health services industry, a result of efforts to control hospital costs and of the increasing utilization of outpatient clinics and other alternative care sites. Hospitals will streamline health services delivery operations, provide more outpatient care, and rely less on inpatient care. Job opportunities, however, will remain plentiful because hospitals employ a large number of people. Besides job openings due to employment growth, additional openings will arise as workers leave the labor force or transfer to other occupations. Occupations with the most replacement openings are usually large, with high turnover stemming from low pay and status, poor benefits, low training requirements, and a high proportion of young and part-time workers, such as nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides. By contrast, occupations with relatively few replacement openings (such as physicians and surgeons) are characterized by high pay and status, lengthy training requirements, and a high proportion of full-time workers.
Fast growth is expected for workers in occupations concentrated outside the inpatient hospital sector, such as medical assistants and home health aides. Because of cost pressures, many health services facilities will adjust their staffing patterns to reduce labor costs. Where patient care demands and regulations allow, health services facilities will substitute lower paid providers and will cross-train their workforces. Many facilities have cut the number of middle managers, while simultaneously creating new managerial positions as they diversify. Because traditional inpatient hospital positions are no longer the only option for many future health services workers, persons seeking a career in the field must be willing to work in various employment settings.
Demand for dental care will rise due to population growth, greater retention of natural teeth by middle-aged and older persons, greater awareness of the importance of dental care, and an increased ability to pay for services. dentists will use support personnel such as dental hygienists and assistants to help meet their increased workloads.
In some management, business, and financial operations occupations, rapid growth will be tempered by restructuring to reduce administrative costs and streamline operations. The effects of office automation and other technological changes will slow employment growth in office and administrative support occupations, but because the employment base is large, replacement needs will continue to create substantial numbers of job openings. Slower growing service occupations also will provide job openings due to replacement needs.
Technological changes, such as increased laboratory automation, will negatively affect the demand for other occupations as well. For example, the use of robotics in blood analysis may limit job growth for medical and clinical laboratory technologists and technicians, although the hands-on nature of health services precludes significant productivity gains in many instances.
Health services workers at all levels of education and training will continue to be in demand. In many cases, it may be easier for jobseekers with health-specific training to obtain jobs and advance in their careers. Specialized clinical training is a requirement for many jobs in health services and is an asset even for many administrative jobs that do not specifically require it.