Over the past five years, the American workforce has grown in large part due to the health care industry. But large, for-profit health care companies have not been driving that job growth.
Some parts of health care — notably, health insurers — are cutting jobs, some of which has not been previously reported. And considering the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress signed off on billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts in the near future, economists think it’s possible some organizations — particularly hospitals and others that actually deliver care — will lay off employees.
To understand how the health industry workforce is changing, STAT analyzed the number of employees listed in the annual filings of 50 of the largest publicly traded health care companies. They include hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, medical device firms, health insurers, distributors, and other life sciences and equipment manufacturers. The findings reveal a lot of variance by sector, and muted total job growth.Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…