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Healthcare’s an important source of jobs. Healthcare spending was 17.8% of GDP in 2015 and accounted for 12.8% of private sector jobs. Employment increased 20% between 2005 and 2015. It’s a particularly important source of employment for workers without a college degree, most of whom earn low wages. Healthcare jobs are moving from hospitals to outpatient facilities. Despite rapid job growth, median real wages stagnated or fell.
Shifting to outpatient care centers offers patient benefits — convenience and opportunities for preventative care — and most healthcare providers and unions support this. But workers bear the costs of this organizational restructuring.
– Eileen Appelbaum, Senior Economist, Center for Economic and Policy Research