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February marked another strong month for health care despite job growth overall coming in weaker than expected but stable.
Last month, health care and social assistance led the way for job creation, adding 63,100 jobs, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That marked the fifth straight month that the category saw the largest gains.
When including private education in the group, like some economists do, that figure grows to 73,000 jobs.
Although this is another strong performance for health care, Julia Pollak of ZipRecruiter noted that this level of gains has basically been happening over the last couple of years.
“Part of it is catch-up growth during the pandemic, when many hospitals’ profit margins were negative because of the cancellation of elective procedures,” the firm’s chief economist said in an interview with CNBC. “They didn’t do the hiring that they would’ve otherwise done, and now they’re back to normal and hiring pretty rapidly.”
Evolving demographic trends are another factor at play, Pollak said. She pointed out that the so-called “Peak 65 zone” – a multiyear period when more Americans are set to turn 65 than ever before – is underway.
“Some of it is catchup, and some of it’s just the sort of huge demographic shifts that we’re undergoing,” Pollak continued.
Financial activities and construction were next in line in terms of job growth. Those two categories saw 21,000 and 19,000 positions added, respectively.
Government also saw growth of 11,000 positions during the month. That said, the BLS revealed that within the sector, federal jobs declined by 10,000. That comes amid efforts by President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to axe spending and workforce levels in the federal government.
“The job gains will be much smaller [and] the job losses will be much bigger in the coming reports,” Pollak said, adding that the reduction of 10,000 probably reflects some fraction of the probationary employees who were laid off. “This was still early days.”
In terms of weak spots, retail trade as well as leisure and hospitality were the two groups to see job losses in February. Retail trade lost 6,300 jobs, while leisure and hospitality lost 16,000.
