Unpacking the Healthcare Hiring Boom

Senior care & therapists drive the surge

The healthcare and social assistance industry has dominated job growth over the past 2+ years, adding 1.7 million jobs since the start of 2024. All other industries have lost 56,000 jobs over that span.

This is referred to as a healthcare hiring boom, but traditional healthcare employment has risen at just a modest (doctor and dentist offices) to healthy (hospitals) pace over the past few years.

No, it’s the growing elderly population that’s driving (hopefully not at night) this rapid job growth.

The Senior Care Surge

Nearly half of those 1.7 million new jobs are in just two industries: nursing care facilities and services for the elderly and persons with disabilities. Those segments now employ an incredible 6.4 million people, and since the start of the pandemic, they’ve accounted for about 1 in every 7 new jobs.

This isn’t surprising. There are a lot of Baby Boomers. It will take a lot of labor to care for them.

Funding also plays a role here. The federal government spends roughly a quadrillion dollars on seniors every year, and that’s only a slight exaggeration. In 2025, federal outlays totaled $43,700 per retiree (65+) and just $4,300 per child/young adult.

If that fact is giving you mental health problems, well, good news.

Unpacking the Therapy Data

Employment at nonphysician therapy offices is up a staggering 146% since the start of the pandemic. The industry now has over 300,000 employees, about 10,000 more than in the entire state of Wyoming.

Employment growth at psychiatry offices has been a little slower—med school takes time and limits graduates—but is still up more than 50% since the start of 2020.

The driving force here is pretty clear: therapy is in. 60 million American adults received mental health treatments in 2024, a 50% increase from 2019, while about a third of adolescents used therapists in 2023.

If you had to bet on which industry will grow the fastest over the next few years, this would be a fine choice. And if you actually find yourself betting on this, find a therapist to treat your compulsive gambling disorder.

What’s Next

This week is packed with economic data releases, including two big inflation reports. We’ll give you everything you need to know about that in Week in Review, our every-Friday post that covers all the economic news and data in a breezy, five minute read.

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