Health Care & Social Assistance

Industry Sub-Sector

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Workforce

20.4M

2019 BLS Estimate

Average Employee Age

42.6

Estimated Job Growth

15.1%

10-Year Projection

Average Salary

$56,603

Average Male Salary

$88,850

Average Female Salary

$87,336

About

The top three occupations in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Group are Registered nurses, Nursing assistants, Personal care aides, Physicians, and Licensed practical & licensed vocational nurses. On average, full-time employees in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector work 42.4 hours per week and have an average annual salary of $64,894. Part-time employees in the same industry work 22.9 hours and earn an average annual salary of $27,921.

The locations with the highest concentration of employees in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector are Rochester City PUMA, MN, Wakefield, Williamsbridge & Woodlawn PUMA, NY, and East Flatbush, Farragut & Rugby PUMA, NY. The industry that purchases the most products or services from the Hospitals Industry Group is Health Care & Social Assistance.

Photo by d.j. a.

Workforce

A snapshot of jobs, wages, and opportunities in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector. Registered nurses are the most common position, but the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector employs a relatively high number of Chiropractors, compared to other industries.

The highest average salary in Health Care & Social Assistance goes to Surgeons.

Monthly Employment

Start Year

Y-Axis

5.84%

Year-over-year growth

Employment change between May 2020 and May 2021

As of May 2021, there are 20.1M people employed in the Health Care and Social Assistance industry. This represents a 5.84% increase in employment when compared to May 2020.

This chart shows monthly employment numbers for Health Care and Social Assistance over time (non-seasonally adjusted).

Occupations by Share

20.4M

Workforce (BLS Estimate)

ACS Estimate: 21M

1.1%

1 Year Growth

± 0.696%

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there were 20.4M people employed in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector in 2019.

According to ACS estimates, the number of people employed in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector has been growing at a rate of 1.1%, , from 20.8M people in 2019 to 21M people in 2020.

The following graphic shows the share of employment in Health Care & Social Assistance by various occupations according to ACS estimates. Registered nurses represent the largest share of positions held in Health Care & Social Assistance at 14.1%, followed by Nursing assistants with 6.51% and Personal care aides with 5.22%.

Most Common

The most common occupations in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector, by number of employees, are Registered nurses, Nursing assistants, Personal care aides, Physicians, and Licensed practical & licensed vocational nurses.

Most Specialized

Compared to other Industry Sub-Sectors, Health Care & Social Assistance employs an unusually high number of Chiropractors, Dental hygienists, and Dental assistants.

Highest Paid

The highest paid occupations in Health Care & Social Assistance, by average wage, are Surgeons, Physicians, and Actuaries.

Average Salary

$56,603

AVERAGE WAGE

± $383

On average, employees in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector make $56,603 per year. This number makes Health Care & Social Assistance the 11 highest paying Industry Sub-Sector in the United States out of a total of 21 Industry Sub-Sectors.

Wage by Location

HIGHEST PAYING PUBLIC USE MICRODATA AREA

HIGHEST PAYING PUMAS

This map shows which public use microdata areas (PUMAs) pay the highest average salary to employees in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector.

Wage Distribution

0.48

WAGE GINI

Health Care & Social Assistance has a wage GINI of 0.48, which is more than than the national average of 0.478. In other words, wages are distributed less evenly in Health Care & Social Assistance (shown in red) in comparison to the national average for those wage buckets (shown in gray).

Spatial Concentration

Public Use Microdata Areas with RCA

This map shows the PUMAs in the United States that have revealed comparative advantage in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector.

These are locations that employ more people in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector than expected given both the size of that location's overall labor pool and the national size of the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector.

Diversity

Demographic information on the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector in the US. Male employees tend to earn more than Female employees, with average respective salaries of $88,850 and $87,336. So too tend to earn more than other races and ethnicities in this industry.

Composition by Sex

16.4M

FEMALE WORKFORCE

±93.7k

4.62M

MALE WORKFORCE

±51.9k

78% of workers in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector are Female, making them the more common sex in the workforce. This chart shows the sex breakdown of the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector.

Wage by Sex in Common Jobs

$88,850

AVERAGE MALE SALARY

±$1,310

$87,336

AVERAGE FEMALE SALARY

±$1,308

On average, Male workers in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector make 1.02 times more than their Female counterparts. This chart shows the sex-based wage disparity in the 5 most common occupations in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector.

Wage by Race & Ethnicity in Common Jobs

RACE OR ETHNICITY WITH THE HIGHEST AVERAGE SALARY

Asian
White
Two or More Races

On average, Asian employees in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector earn 1.5 times more than other races and ethnicities. This chart shows the race and ethnicity-based wage disparities in the 5 most common occupations in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector.

Input/Output

Estimates of the sources of the costs and the purchasers of the products in the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector. Based on estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, this section indicates the amount of money spent by a specific industry in other industries. Professional and business services has the highest single input, by dollars, to the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector, and the largest industry purchasing services from the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector is Educational services, health care, and social assistance.

In this flow diagram, all of the industries listed to the left are those places from which the highlighted industry has made purchases. They are the intermediate inputs to the highlighted industry. All those industries listed on the right side are those industries that have made purchases from the highlighted industry. They are the use of outputs of the highlighted industry. The visualizations below offer alternative ways to see and understand this data.

Industrial Flow

The closest comparable data for Health Care & Social Assistance is from Educational Services, Health Care & Social Assistance.

Intermediate Inputs

The closest comparable data for Health Care & Social Assistance is from Educational Services, Health Care & Social Assistance.

HIGHEST INPUT INDUSTRY

The Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector gets the most input, by its share of the cost of all intermediate inputs, from the Professional and business services Industry. This visualization does not include labor and capital costs.

Use of Output by Other Industries

The closest comparable data for Health Care & Social Assistance is from Educational Services, Health Care & Social Assistance.

LARGEST PURCHASING INDUSTRY

The Educational services, health care, and social assistance Industry purchases the greatest share of products and services from the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector in order to produce other goods and services. Purchases of the Health Care & Social Assistance Industry Sub-Sector for final consumption by consumers, businesses, or government are not included here.

Projections

Growth projections of the Health Care and Social Assistance industry, both by number of employees and output, from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The national workforce is projected to grow 7.66% in the next ten years. The Health Care and Social Assistance industry has a higher projected workforce growth at 15.1%. Its projected 10-year growth in output (33.3%) is higher than the projected national growth in output (24.2%).

Job Growth

For growth projections, the closest comparible industry reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is Health Care and Social Assistance.

15.1%

Estimated Job Growth

10-year Projection

7.66%

National Growth

10-year Projection

This line chart shows the projected 10-year growth in the number of jobs for Health Care and Social Assistance. This industry is expected to grow more than than 7.66%, the average rate of national job growth.