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Healthcare's September hiring gains skipped long-term care
McKnight's Senior Living reported this week on two September jobs releases. ADP's National Employment Report, built from payroll transactions of more than 25 million US workers, showed private employers adding 90,000 jobs, 55,000 of them in health and education. Financial activities lost 16,000 and professional and business services 11,000. ADP chief economist Nela Richardson called it "a strong report." Separately, the Bureau of Labor Statistics put healthcare at 17,000 added jobs, against an average of 33,000 a month over the past year. Within that, hospitals gained 12,000 and ambulatory care 13,000, while skilled nursing lost 1,600, home health 2,300, and continuing care retirement/life plan communities and assisted living, reported as one group, 7,000.
Does strong healthcare hiring mean nurses are easier to find?
Not from these figures. Healthcare overall added 17,000 jobs in September, but the gains were in hospitals and ambulatory care, while skilled nursing and assisted living both shrank.
A net payroll change counts everyone in a sector, aides and kitchen staff included, and records nothing about why. A shrinking headcount could reflect cuts, vacancies nobody filled, or staff who left for a hospital; the reporting doesn't separate these. What the figures do show is hospitals and ambulatory providers adding staff in a month long-term care wasn't, and they are the obvious alternative for a nurse weighing a move. That is my inference, not a finding.
How far can I trust the September numbers?
Treat them as direction, not measurement. One comes from a payroll processor's own data, the other from a government estimate, and neither, as reported, isolates nurses or nursing leaders.
ADP's 55,000 sits in a combined health and education bucket, so it says little about nursing homes, and ADP defines and measures its own sample. The long-term care losses come from the BLS, which groups continuing care retirement communities with assisted living, so the 7,000 can't be split between them. One month is thin evidence; watch the early-November release before calling a trend.
What does the pay data mean for my retention budget?
Across ADP's whole sample, people who switched employers saw base pay rise 4.8% year over year, against 3% for those who stayed, so staying put paid less.
These are all-industry averages, not nursing wages, and nothing here prices a DON or ADON. The direction still matters: if your annual raises track the stayer figure, a nurse holding a competing offer is probably looking at a bigger number. Test that against your own exit interviews before changing anything.
What should I ask my staffing or compensation vendor?
Ask what slice of the data is post-acute, what job titles it covers, and whether its raise figures separate people who stayed from people who moved.
Any pitch built on the claim that healthcare is hiring deserves the scrutiny this month's headline does: whose payroll, which sub-sector, which month. Ask for skilled nursing and assisted living figures on their own, and for the source of any pay benchmark, whether payroll records, job postings or surveys. A vendor who can't answer is selling the headline.
Frequently asked questions
How many long-term care jobs were lost in September?
Per BLS data cited by McKnight's, skilled nursing fell by 1,600, home health by 2,300, and continuing care retirement/life plan communities plus assisted living, grouped together, by 7,000.
Did any care settings grow?
Yes. Ambulatory healthcare services added 13,000 jobs and hospitals 12,000, within a healthcare total of 17,000.
When is the next BLS jobs report?
McKnight's says the next Employment Situation report is due in early November.
Sources: McKnight's Senior Living, which reported the ADP National Employment Report and Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released Friday.