April 2024 Jobs Report: Surprising Cooling Comes After Months of Hot Growth

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday reported the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs. After three months of hot jobs growth to start the year, April’s number is nearly 100,000 jobs fewer than the average of January to March. And this comes after consistent cooling in the last half of 2023. 

The job market “is still spotty,” said Jessica Calzaretta, President Insight Global Health. “I think demand across industries is still varied, and it is not consistent across the board.” 

“Employers and job seekers have been wrestling with what’s happening in the economy, and some are faring better than others,” Calzaretta said. “And I think the roller coaster ride that has been the jobs report has been indicative of that.” 

Other economic data released across April include: 

• The unemployment rate is just a tick up at 3.9%. 
• Wages continue to cool, increasing just 0.2% month-over-month. Wages are up 3.9% year-over-year, cracking below 4% growth for the first time since August 2021. 
• The private sector added 192,000 jobs in April, according to ADP. The payroll company reported the private sector has seen 5% year-over-year wage gains, the lowest number in nearly three years. 
• The largest additions by industry in the jobs report were: healthcare (+56,000), social assistance (+31,000), transportation and warehousing (+22,000), and retail (+20,000) 
• Job openings, hires, and separations all changed little month-over-month. 
• Year-over-year inflation was at 3.5% in March—a mark higher than February 3.2% reading. Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE)—an inflation reading that excludes volatile food and energy prices—were up 2.8% year-over-year in March. 

As the economy continues to stabilize, albeit slower than economists projected at the beginning of the year, the Federal Reserve did not change interest rates this week—instead deciding to keep them at current levels. There was an expectation The Fed could start cutting rates in April, but with recent trends with jobs and inflation, they “decided to leave our policy interest rate unchanged.”

Healthcare Is Continually Adding Jobs—But There’s Still a Shortage  

Lately, both the federal jobs report and the private sector ADP report have shown healthcare hiring consistently showing gains month-over-month. In April, the industry added 56,000 jobs. And on top of this, the unemployment rate in healthcare is often well below the national average.  

Alongside a healthcare staffing expert, we’ll take a beat to assess what trends around this sector and why, despite the growth, there remains a talent gap in healthcare. 

Healthcare Employment Trends 

Within the industry, there are clinical and non-clinical employment trends that affect healthcare as a whole: 

• Companies are rethinking their clinical staffing strategies: Calzaretta says companies are moving away from their strategies to hire travel and contingent staff to their workforce, and their full-time headcount needs are “surging.” In either scenario, there is still a struggle in addressing patient needs with the volume of clinical staff they have in an environment that has grown increasingly challenging from a cost perspective. (We’ll touch more on this in a moment.) 
• Travel nurse demand and wages are normalizing: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for travel nurses exploded to meet the need of the time. For two years, nurses travelled to in-demand areas and were getting paid well above average to do so. Over the last year, Calzaretta says, the bill rates for travel nurses have stabilized to much closer to pre-pandemic levels.  
• Investments in technology: While the healthcare industry is seen, generally, a step or two behind other industries with technological innovation and advancement, investment in these areas are “table stakes” nowadays, Calzaretta says. These investments range from cybersecurity to the systems clinicians use to reimbursement models and processes. Ultimately, these investments create more jobs. 

Acknowledging—And Addressing—the Staffing Shortage 

Despite the continued growth, there’s a still a staffing shortage in healthcare—particularly in clinical roles. The American Hospital Association projects there to be a shortage of 3.2 million healthcare workers by 2026.  

“The need for healthcare has probably never been higher. The pressures surrounding healthcare have never been more complex. And the availability and interest of clinical workers to go to the bedside and work in more traditional type settings has never been more limited,” Calzaretta said. 

These shortages come from a slew of reasons; she says: 

• There aren’t enough nurses graduating from nursing school 
• Many nurses are leaving the profession altogether due to burnout 
• Companies are recruiting nurses and other healthcare professionals to fill roles in alternative working environments, like in telehealth, claims, and tech. 

This leaves a gap at the bedside. 

And while there’s not a single solution to address these shortages, there are steps Calzaretta says hiring managers in the healthcare industry can take to make inroads.  

“A solution lies in thinking about the global talent marketplace for healthcare workers, similar to how IT has. There are highly qualified, skilled, and educated healthcare workers who can help fill the shortage.” 

With any large-scale solution, there are hurdles to success like immigration policy and transitioning these workers to new lives stateside. But we must think globally for sustainable healthcare staffing solutions, Calzaretta says.