Healthcare lost 29,300 jobs in September, or a 0.21 percent decline, but in "seasonally adjusted" terms, the sector actually gained 19,200 jobs; and the sector had a total of 13,659,300 jobs at the end of the month, or 2.1 percent more than a year ago.
While healthcare has added 559,000 jobs since the beginning of the recession, its average gain of 22,000 jobs a month in 2009 is lower than its monthly average of 30,000 jobs in 2008.
Within the sector, hospitals lost 10,600 actual jobs in September but gained 3,600 "seasonally adjusted" jobs, or a 0.07 percent gain.
With 4,726,800 actual jobs at the end of September, hospitals logged a 1.19 percent gain in actual jobs over last year.
Physicians’ offices posted a gain of 200 actual jobs in September but had a "seasonally adjusted" gain of 5,300 jobs, up 0.2 percent.
With 2,339,900 actual jobs at the end of September, physicians’ offices had a 2.76 percent gain in actual jobs over last year.
In the Bureau’s September tally, only two other major sectors gained seasonally adjusted jobs: "amusements, gambling and recreation," with 13,500 more jobs, and "arts, entertainment and recreation," with 15,500 more jobs.
The bureau did not explain how it calculated the seasonal adjustment.
Read the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ release on healthcare jobs (pdf).
