Health Care – Jobs. Trends. Insight.

Finance, Health Care, IT Stocks Lose Momentum as Hiring Slows

By Charles Thibault on February 2, 2010 in Business/Finance, Computer/Math/IT, Finance - XLF, Health Care, Health Care - XLV, Information Technology - XLK, S&P 500 - SPY.

Several stock market industry segments have taken hits over the past two or three weeks as the labor market situation deteriorated slightly during the second half of January.

Health Care stocks are down 2.9% over the last two weeks (XLV); Information Technologies stocks are down 9.5% over the last three weeks (XLK); and Finance stocks are down 7% over the last three weeks (XLF). The 4-week moving average of new unemployment insurance claims has gone up two weeks in a row.

Hiring in these three sectors – Finance, Health Care, and Information Technologies – has slowed in the past two weeks too, falling off the positive trend they started in September. What's worse, year-over-year hiring improvements have swung from positive to negative in these sectors.

The following analysis confirms a great Q4 in terms of GDP growth (+5.7% annualized), but also suggests that growth rates are slowing.

Let's first take a second to make sure we're not presenting conflicting information about the labor market situation, particularly compared to the Conference Board's Help Wanted Online series which uses the "same" data as we present here (HWOL). That series uses a "mid-month to mid-month" time-frame in order to match the BLS's sampling framework which measures national employment on the 14th day of each month. In early January, we did see some positive labor market signals. However, national Hiring Demand fell by 3.7% two weeks ago (after the HWOL sampling period closed). Since January 19th, the S&P 500 index has lost 4.3% too. This is after the S&P 500 gained 3.6% during the first couple of weeks of January on positive December UI claims data.

The following table compares year-over-year changes in sector Hiring Demand (the number of new online job ads) and weekly returns of sector Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). Sector ETFs are tradable securities which mimic the composition and returns of the different sector indices developed by Standard & Poor's. Sector indices are sub-components of the S&P 500.

Source: WANTED Analytics, Google Finance

Phoenix Great for Health Care Jobs, #1 in US for RN's

By Charles Thibault on November 3, 2009 in Health Care.

Phoenix, AZ is one of the best US markets for Health Care Practitioners, according to our Supply/Demand Ratios. What's more, Health Care workers are also "in-demand" in the Phoenix market. In other words, not only is Phoenix a great place for Health Care workers compared to other cities, but Health Care occupations also outrank other occupations within the Phoenix market.

Phoenix is ranked first in the US for Registered Nurses Hiring Demand (view our heat map and ranked market list for RN's). Registered Nurses are the second most important occupation in the United States (they carry an economic weight of $165 billion, second only to 'General and Operations Managers' who have an economic weight of $185 billion. 'Retail Salespersons' come in third at $110 billion). In August, Phoenix was ranked second after Las Vegas for RN Hiring Demand.

Remember that our Supply/Demand Ratios are constructed such that the number of online job ads is standardized against local occupational employment counts. (We'd expect larger markets to have more online job ads, so our S/D Ratios 'control' for market size).

Health Care Up 19,200 – September 2009 BLS Preliminary Report

By Juli Morris on October 2, 2009 in BLS Nonfarm Employment, Health Care.

According to today's preliminary report by the BLS, the health care sector gained 19,200 jobs in September. While still a positive report, this is the fourth consecutive month of declining gains. WANTED Technologies' Hiring Demand Indicator (the yellow line in the chart below) for Health Care also showed another slight decline in September.

Click chart to view full size

The Health Care Hiring Demand Indicator–a measure of year-over-year change in online job advertising–showed a slight decrease this month, but remains flat since the strong uptick last quarter from -27 percent in April to -17 percent in May. The trend in Hiring Demand in Health Care had been moving steadily downward from a peak it reached in June 2007 prior to the onset of the recession in December 2007, reaching a bottom which appeared to occur in the first quarter of 2009.

For more charts, graphs and forecasts, visit our BLS Forecast page.

FORECAST: September 2009 – Health Care Up 29,200

By Juli Morris on September 22, 2009 in BLS Nonfarm Employment, Health Care.

WANTED's forecast for Health Care employment in September shows a gain of 29,200 jobs, the largest monthly gain since December 2008. WANTED Technologies' Hiring Demand Indicator (the yellow line in the chart below) for Health Care showed a slight decrease in September.

Click chart to view full size

The Health Care Hiring Demand Indicator–a measure of year-over-year change in online job advertising–dropped slightly this month from -15 percent to -16 percent. Hiring Demand for Health Care reached its three-year peak in June 2007, prior to the onset of the recession in December 2007, and moved steadily downward until reaching a bottom in the first quarter of 2009. Following a gain of 10 percent in June, Hiring Demand in this sector has remained flat.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its Preliminary September Estimate for the Health Care sector as part of its Employment Situation report on Friday, October 2, at 8:30 AM.

For more charts, graphs and forecasts, visit our BLS Forecast page.

Health Care Up 27,900 – August 2009 BLS Preliminary Report

By Juli Morris on September 4, 2009 in BLS Nonfarm Employment, Health Care.

According to today's preliminary report by the BLS, the health care sector gained 27,900 jobs in August. The sector remains one of the few bright spots in the labor market. WANTED Technologies' Hiring Demand Indicator (the yellow line in the chart below) for Health Care showed a slight decline in August.

Click chart to view full size

For more charts, graphs and forecasts, visit our BLS Forecast page.

FORECAST: August 2009 — Health Care Up 31,900

By Juli Morris on August 25, 2009 in BLS Nonfarm Employment, Health Care.

WANTED's forecast for Health Care employment in August shows a gain of 31,900 jobs, the largest monthly gain since December 2008. WANTED Technologies' Hiring Demand Indicator (the yellow line in the chart below) for Health Care showed no increase in August.

Click chart to view full size

The Health Care Hiring Demand Indicator–a measure of year-over-year change in online job advertising–dropped slightly this month, after a small uptick from -17 percent in June to -14 percent in July. The trend in Hiring Demand in Health Care had been moving steadily downward from a peak it reached in June 2007 prior to the onset of the recession in December 2007, reaching a bottom which appeared to occur in the first quarter of the year.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its Preliminary August Estimate for the Health Care sector as part of its Employment Situation report on Friday, September 4th, at 8:30 AM.

For more charts, graphs and forecasts, visit our BLS Forecast page.

Registered Nurses in Demand in Texas, South-West

By Charles Thibault on August 17, 2009 in Health Care.

Hring Demand for Registered Nurses is strong in the US South-West. Major cities in Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, the state of Washington, and Colorado display Hiring Demand for Registered Nurses that is greater than the national average, according to our Supply / Demand Ratios.

Registered Nurses are not only the most important health care practitioners, they are also one of the most important occupations in the entire United States. There are over 2.5 million Registered Nurses in the US, which places them fourth in terms of total employment after Retail Salespersons, Cashiers, Office Clerks, and Food Preparation Workers. They come second in terms of economic importance: with an average annual income of $65,000, more than $165 billion is paid out in wages every year to RNs, second only to General and Operations Managers who have the advantage of an average salary of $108,000.

The following table shows the 15 areas where Registered Nurses (SOC 291111) are in greatest demand based on our S/D Ratio:

Source: WANTED Supply/Demand Ratios

Those looking for the best places to start a job search can refer to our Supply/Demand Ratios homepage.

Health Care Up 19,600 – July 2009 BLS Preliminary Report

By Juli Morris on August 7, 2009 in BLS Nonfarm Employment, Health Care.

The health care industry continues to add jobs, according to today's preliminary BLS report, although still at a relatively modest rate compared to growth rates in recent years. According to the BLS' Employment Situation, the health care sector gained 19,600 jobs in July. WANTED Technologies' Hiring Demand Indicator (the yellow line in the chart below) for Health Care showed a slight increase in July.

Click chart to view full size

The Health Care Hiring Demand Indicator–a measure of year-over-year change in online job advertising–increased slightly this month after remaining flat in June. Last quarter saw a strong uptick from -27 percent in April to -17 percent in May. The trend in Hiring Demand in Health Care had been moving steadily downward from a peak it reached in June 2007 prior to the onset of the recession in December 2007, reaching a bottom which appeared to occur in the first quarter of the year.

For more charts, graphs and forecasts, visit our BLS Forecast page.

Forecast July 2009 – Health Care up 28,600

By Charles Thibault on July 28, 2009 in BLS Nonfarm Employment, Health Care.

Based on slightly improving Hiring Demand for Health Care workers, WANTED forecasts an employment increase of 28,600 in the Health Care sector for July (BLS data series CES6562000101). The BLS will release industry-level employment figures on Friday, August 7th along with the Employment Situation.

Despite weakening Hiring Demand throughout 2009, the Health Care industry has remained fairly robust, adding an average 26,000 workers per month over the last year.

The year-over-year change in Hiring Demand for Health Care is now -14.4%, a relative improvement of 2.35% compared to last month. The BLS reported an increase in Health Care employment of 20,800 in June. Recent improvements in Hiring Demand in this industry are driving our forecast of 28,600.

Click chart to view full size

Hiring Demand for Nurses Drops

By Juli Morris on July 17, 2009 in Health Care.

Source: WANTED Analytics 2.0

After rebounding in late April and rising through May, Hiring Demand for Nurses has been trending downward again. As the accompanying chart shows, online job ads for Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses and Licensed Vocational Nurses have lost nearly all the gains made in 2009.

Demand for nurses reached its 2009 peak the week of May 31, having gained 13 percent from its low the week of April 19. As of the week of July 5th, Hiring Demand had retreated 8.4 percent from that 2009 peak.

WANTED's Hiring Demand Indicator^TM for the broader health care sector for June was down 17 percent year-over-year, up from a three-year low of 27.5 percent in January 2009. Additional information and analysis on Hiring demand in the health care industry can be found here.

The recently-launched WANTED Supply/Demand Ratios™ measure occupational Hiring Demand in a metro area relative to the size of the local labor market. Cities where the mix of demand and supply exceed the national average are good bets for people looking for work. Our S/D Ratios indicate that the five best locations for Registered Nurses looking for jobs are Las Vegas-Paradise, NV; Cheyenne, WY; Clarksville, TN; Redding, CA; and Austin-Round Rock, TX. For Licensed Practical Nurses and Occupational Nurses, the best locations are Salinas, CA; Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC; Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR; Colorado Springs, CO; and Durham, NC.

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