The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly unemployment data for December, revealing another strong month of job growth for healthcare, and a few other sectors.
The healthcare industry added 23,000 jobs in December, in a variety of settings. The healthcare industry grew by 315,000 jobs over the year of 2011.
In December, hospitals added 1o,000 of the total new healthcare jobs, while over 11,000 jobs were added in ambulatory care settings.
Home health added the most ambulatory care jobs in December, with about 2,000 new jobs. Other new ambulatory care jobs included about 1,900 jobs added in medical offices, and 1,600 added in outpatient care centers.
As for the nation's overall job growth, over 200,000 jobs were added. As a result, the unemployment rate edged down to 8.5 percent, compared to the healthcare industry's unemployment rate of 5.5 percent.
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