Nursing Home Jobs Surge in September, More Than Compensating for August’s Decline

Nursing home jobs rebounded in September, more than offsetting the dip experienced in the previous month, and added 3,900 positions, as nursing care prices also saw the highest growth compared to other health care services.

According to Altraum’s October’s Health Sector Economic Indicators brief released Wednesday, prices for nursing home care rose by 4.4% year over year, second only to the 6.5% growth in other personal health care prices over the same period. This increase positions nursing home care alongside hospitals and dental care, which both saw price growth of 3.9%. In contrast, home health care experienced the slowest price growth at just 1.3%.

The report also highlighted the differences in Medicaid pricing, which surged by 5.7% over the past year. This growth outpaced price increases for private insurance (3.8%) and Medicare patients (1.7%), indicating a growing reliance on Medicaid services, particularly in long-term care settings like nursing homes.

Nursing and residential care facilities contributed significantly to job growth in September 2024, adding a total of 9,400 jobs.

“In September 2024, most health care settings had slower job growth than in the previous 12 months. Two exceptions were nursing care facilities, which added 3,900 jobs, and home health care services, which added 12,700 jobs,” said Stephen McCall, senior analyst for health economics and policy at Altarum.

Nominal wages in nursing and residential care facilities increased by 4.2% from August 2023 to August 2024, outpacing the growth in ambulatory care services (3.6%) and hospitals (3.5%), McCall said.

Meanwhile, spending on nursing homes increased by 8.6% from August 2023 to August 2024. As a comparison, home health care services again had the fastest growing spending, with 11.6% growth during the same period.

“Out of the 9.2% spending growth in nursing home spending in July, 4.2 percentage points were due to increased nursing home utilization. In contrast, home health care spending growth was almost entirely due to utilization growth rather than price increases, with 10.0 percentage points resulting from increased utilization,” McCall said.

Health care jobs accounted for only 17.8% of total employment growth in September, down from 28.3% in the previous year.

Overall, the health care sector’s unemployment rate experienced a slight decrease, dropping to 4.1% from 4.2% in August. In August, the job openings rate for health care and social assistance was 6.1%, with a hiring rate of 3.1% and total separations at 2.7%. These statistics reflect ongoing challenges in workforce retention and recruitment within the industry.