Even the Great Recession didn’t drag down health care jobs

Earlier this morning, my colleague Matt Yglesias commented on the fact that the hospital sector has been cutting jobs more often recently. In the July jobs report, hospitals lost just over 7,000 workers. That’s a new, downward trend in an industry that has generally only grown over the last decade.

Today, Advisory Board Daily Briefing editor Dan Diamond tweeted a chart emphasizing just how strong the health care industry has been throughout the downturn and recovery:

Health care grew steadily throughout the recession and recovery. Just glancing at its trajectory alone, you might never know that the nation went through a painful recession and years-long recovery.

If the hospital employment decline continues and accelerates, it could create a new dynamic in the jobs report — one in which health care isn’t always such a strong boon to the labor market. Or it could just signal a shift in what the composition of health care employment looks like, with fewer hospital employees and more home care workers tending to an aging population.