NY Comptroller: Health care job growth double of state’s other professions

Health care jobs are growing in New York state at a rate double that of overall employment.

That’s just one of many figures included in a recent report from New York Comptroller Thomas P. Dinapoli extolling the strength of the job market for health care statewide.

Health care jobs exceeded 1.2 million in 2017, growing at a rate of more than 18 percent in the past decade, DiNapoli found.

“Year in and year out, health care has been a growth sector for jobs in New York over the past decade,” DiNapoli said in a statement announcing the report.

Health care is the state’s third-largest employment industry, according to the report, trailing only professional services and trade, transportation and utilities. The industry provided nearly $71 billion in wages statewide, with an average annual wage of $57,200 last year.

Every region in the state saw growth over the last year in health care jobs, but the growth was strongest in New York City, with a nearly 33 percent increase in health care sector employment. Long Island was next with 25 percent growth and the Finger Lakes region third with 18.9 percent growth.

The Hudson Valley was fourth with a 17.8 percent growth in health care sector jobs.

In Westchester, health care providers employed 61,588 people in 2017, a 16 percent increase from a decade earlier. The average annual wage in the industry in Westchester increased 28.5 percent in 10 years to reach $64,651.

Doctors, dentists and nurses made up nearly 40 percent of health care occupations statewide, with doctors and dentists garnering the highest annual average wages at $152,650.

The report cited federal and state labor projections that expect health care industries to remain among the fastest-growing occupational groups between 2016 and 2026.

But the comptroller also used the report to warn against factors he said could hurt the health care industry. Health care facilities statewide have faced financial difficulties, as well as challenges finding qualified employees for open jobs.

DiNapoli also cautioned against any cuts in federal funding for health care initiatives ”“ such as potential Medicaid cuts proposed in President Donald Trump’s 2019 budget.

“Reductions in federal funding could result in downward pressure on both employment and on wages, with the latter possibility creating increased challenges for health care organizations seeking to attract the workers they need,” DiNapoli wrote in the report. “After years of good economic news in the state”™s health care sector, such outcomes would represent a reversal with troubling implications for New Yorkers.”

View DiNapoli’s full report here:  https://www.osc.state.ny.us/reports/economic/health-care-employment-2018.pdf