Health Care and Social Assistance: NAICS 62

About the Health Care and Social Assistance sector

The health care and social assistance sector is part of the education and health services supersector.

The Health Care and Social Assistance sector comprises establishments providing health care and social assistance for individuals. The sector includes both health care and social assistance because it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the boundaries of these two activities. The industries in this sector are arranged on a continuum starting with those establishments providing medical care exclusively, continuing with those providing health care and social assistance, and finally finishing with those providing only social assistance. The services provided by establishments in this sector are delivered by trained professionals. All industries in the sector share this commonality of process, namely, labor inputs of health practitioners or social workers with the requisite expertise. Many of the industries in the sector are defined based on the educational degree held by the practitioners included in the industry.

North American Industry Classification System

The health care and social assistance sector consists of these subsectors:

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in health care and social assistance. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, job openings and labor turnover, union membership and representation, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, Layoffs, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Data series Back
data
Jun.
2008
Jul.
2008
Aug.
2008
Sep.
2008

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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15,791.3 15,823.3 (P) 15,867.1 (P) 15,887.7

Employment, nonsupervisory workers

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13,910.4 13,901.7 (P) 13,948.8  

Unemployment

 

Unemployment rate

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3.1% 3.3% 3.6% 3.7%

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

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151 65 35  

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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11,867 4,263 2,584  

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

 

Job openings

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634 626 (P) 607  

Hires

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475 433 (P) 491  

Separations

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404 432 (P) 427  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Mass Layoff Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
2004 2005 2006 2007

Union membership and representation

 

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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7.2% 7.1% 7.0% 7.9%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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8.2% 8.0% 7.9% 8.8%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Extended Mass Layoffs

Data series Back
data
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008

Extended mass layoff events

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49 22 (P) 20 (P) 166

Separations

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9,724 4,697 (P) 5,302 (P) 20,468

Initial claimants

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5,017 3,476 (P) 2,643 (P) 16,713

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2007

Home health aides

773,730

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses

606,020

Medical and health services managers

194,010

Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants

1,257,790

Registered nurses

2,097,590

Note: These employment estimates include employment in both the private-sector and government.

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for health care and social assistance.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours for production or nonsupervisory employees, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in health care and social assistance. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.

Earnings and Hours of Production Workers

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data
May
2008
Jun.
2008
Jul.
2008
Aug.
2008

Average hourly earnings

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$19.10 $19.10 $19.29 (P) $19.28

Average weekly hours

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32.7 33.0 32.8 (P) 32.8

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Union Membership and Representation

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data
Median weekly earnings
2004 2005 2006 2007

Union membership and representation

 

Full-time workers

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$595 $607 $620 $644

Members of unions

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$656 $684 $703 $752

Represented by unions

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$671 $692 $700 $762

Nonunion

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$588 $601 $614 $632

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2007
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Home health aides

$9.53 $9.87 $19,830 $20,520

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses

$18.12 $18.61 $37,690 $38,710

Medical and health services managers

$36.43 $40.13 $75,760 $83,470

Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants

$11.03 $11.37 $22,940 $23,660

Registered nurses

$28.81 $30.05 $59,920 $62,510

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Employer Compensation Costs

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data
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008

12-month percent change

 

Total compensation

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3.6% 3.6% 3.4% 3.3%

Wages and salaries

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3.9% 3.8% 3.6% 3.4%

12-month percent change: State and local government

 

Total compensation

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3.3% 3.4% 2.8% 3.3%

Wages and salaries

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3.2% 3.5% 3.3% 3.5%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)



Data series Back
data
2nd quarter 2008
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation

Compensation costs

 

Total compensation

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27.66 100.0

Wages and salaries

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19.82 71.6

Total benefits

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7.85 28.4

Insurance

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2.11 7.6

Retirement

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0.85 3.1

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in health care and social assistance. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2004 2005 2006 2007

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

133 119 144 (P) 133

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

 

Total recordable cases

6.2 5.9 5.8  

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

2.9 2.8 2.7  

Cases involving days away from work

1.6 1.6 1.5  

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

1.3 1.3 1.2  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction.

Data series Back
data
May
2008
Jun.
2008
Jul.
2008
Aug.
2008

Producer price index

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(P) 104.5 (P) 104.5 (P) 104.7 (P) 104.8

Percent change from previous month

 

(P) 0.0% (P) 0.0% (P) 0.2% (P) 0.1%

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in health care and social assistance.

Establishments

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data
1st quarter
2007
2nd quarter
2007
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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(P) 728,586 (P) 733,771 (P) 740,841 (P) 743,449

Local government

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(P) 6,452 (P) 6,440 (P) 6,455 (P) 6,480

State government

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(P) 5,811 (P) 5,795 (P) 5,810 (P) 5,841

Federal government

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(P) 584 (P) 632 (P) 634 (P) 639

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Other BLS Resources

The Editor's Desk

See industry studies in the subject matter index of The Editor's Desk (Current Edition).

Monthly Labor Review

See health care in the Index of the Monthly Labor Review Online (Current Issue).

Career Guide to Industries

See health care in the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: October 08, 2008