January 2015 Health Sector Economic Indicators Briefs

Health sector employment ended 2014 with a bang as it added 34,100 new jobs in December 2014 and saw upward revisions of 17,800 in October and November. Health care prices in November 2014 were 1.6 percent higher than in November 2013, a 10th higher than the October year-over-year rate. And national health spending in November 2014 grew 5.1 percent over November 2013. Incorporating the Quarterly Services Survey, released on December 10, we now estimate that national health spending in the third quarter was 5.5 percent greater than in the third quarter of 2013—the highest growth rate since the first quarter of 2008, when it was 5.8 percent.