business
Physician offices recovered lost ground on jobs in July
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 13, 2012
The number of jobs in physician offices dipped in June but bounced back in July, according to a monthly report released Aug. 3 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The agency tallied 2,427,700 positions in this segment of health care in July, representing an increase of 2,700. This made up for the loss of 2,700 jobs in June. About 5,300 jobs were added to hospital payrolls in July, bringing the total working in this setting to 4,817,600. This represented a significant increase from the 1,800 new hospital jobs in June and the 1,100 positions created in May.
The bureau does not break down jobs by occupation, but other surveys have indicated that demand for physicians and other clinical staff remains high even in an economy that appears to be slow to recover. The overall unemployment rate inched up from 8.2% in June to 8.3% in July and has stayed above 8% for all of 2012.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/08/13/bibf0813.htm.