Hospital employment, pay on the rise across the board

Overall U.S. hospital employment hit 5,223,000 in March, rising 2.11% over the 5,115,000 recorded in March of 2018, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For nonsupervisory positions, the March year-to-year figures are not yet in, but from Feb. 2018 to Feb. 2019, the lift was a similarly sturdy 1.86%—approximately 4.666 million workers then to 4.753 million now.

What’s more, the spike in hiring was accompanied by gains in wages.

Earnings for all hospital workers in Feb. 2019 averaged $33 per hour, or around $66,000 annually, compared with $32/hour ($64K annually) in Feb. 2018.

Nonsupervisory hospital employees enjoyed an increase to $32/hour in Feb. 2019, up from $31/hour ($62K per year) in Feb. 2018.

Meanwhile DataUSA, a non-government source of hospital workforce growth, composition and compensation, had the average age of hospital workers at 42.9 years in 2016, with males earning an average $90,493 and females $57,675.

DataUSA, which is maintained by Deloitte, MIT and Datawheel, also broke down the salary averages into full time vs. part time, finding that the former had an average annual salary of $71,437 while their part-time coworkers took home $35,868.

Dave Pearson

Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.

Around the web

Boston Scientific has announced another significant M&A deal, scooping up an Israeli medtech company focused on RDN technology. 

Harvard’s David A. Rosman, MD, MBA, explains how moving imaging outside of hospitals could save billions of dollars for U.S. healthcare.

The recall comes after approximately 3% of patients treated with the device during the early stages of its U.S. rollout experienced a stroke or transient ischemic attack following surgery. The expected stroke rate is closer to 1%, the FDA explained.