Agency Estimates 5 Million New Jobs including Home Care Positions

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects health care to help drive employment growth over the next eight years, and home health care is expected to be a huge piece of it. The agency predicts a 14 percent increase in employment over the next decade with health care jobs accounting for about a quarter of the available positions.

In its new “Employment Projections – 2010-20,” BLS reports the top job drivers through the end of the decade will be industries and occupations related to health care, personal care and social assistance, and construction.

This is unsurprising, as health care has been one of the few consistent gainers in BLS’ monthly jobs reports. Also unsurprising for those watching the salary trends in the economy; the biggest jumps will be in low-training, low-paying home health jobs.

BLS’ projections are in general optimistic: They predict that total employment will “grow by 14.3 percent over the decade, resulting in 20.5 million new jobs.” Home care, personal care, social assistance and construction jobs will account for five million, or 25 percent, of these jobs, according to the Bureau.

In BLS’ breakdown, here’s how health-related fields will grow:

• Personal care aides*: from 861,000 1,468,000 jobs – 70.5 percent growth
• Home health aides: from 1,017,700 to 1,723,900 jobs – 69.4 percent growth
• Medical secretaries: from 508,700 to 718,900 jobs – 41.3 percent growth
• Medical assistants: from 527,600 to 690,400 jobs – 30.9 percent growth
• Registered nurses: from 2,737,400 to 3,449,300 jobs – 26 percent growth
• Physicians and surgeons: from 691,000 to 859,300 jobs –  24.4 percent growth
• Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants: from 1,505,300 to 1,807,200 jobs – 20.1 percent growth

(*Distinction: By BLS’ definitions, both home health aides and personal care aides assist the elderly and/or infirm in facilities or at home, but the former “provide routine individualized healthcare such as changing bandages and dressing wounds” and “may also provide personal care,” while personal care aides merely “assist… with daily living activities.”)

By category, hospital hires are expected to rise by 878,300 jobs, or 1.7 percent; home health services by 871,800 jobs, or 6.1 percent; nursing and residential care facilities by 822,000 jobs, or 2.4 percent; and outpatient, lab, and other ambulatory care services by 394,100 jobs, or 3.2 percent.

But while there may be more jobs coming available in health care, some workers may need two to make ends meet.