November 2015 Health Sector Economic Indicators Briefs

The health sector added a robust 44,900 new jobs in October and now accounts for 10.7% of total employment — an all-time high. Hospitals have added 148,000 jobs from January through October 2015, a six-fold increase over the 23,000 jobs added over the same period in 2014. Health care prices in September 2015 were 1.0% higher than in September 2014, down from 1.2% in August, and returning to the multi-decade low hit in August 2013. And after reaching an 8-year high in February, the health spending growth rate has steadily declined from 6.8% to 5.5% in September, year over year.