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Amid skills gap, health care employment up

Posted on January 30th, 2013 Read time: 1 minutes

In December 2012, the U.S. economy created 45,000 healthcare jobs, representing nearly one-third of the 155,000 total jobs created, Business Courier reports. Recent forecasts suggest the industry will likely continue on its positive employment streak.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the U.S. will see 5.6 million new health care jobs between 2010 and 2020, according to CareerBuilder, a job searching website.

Among more than 270 healthcare hiring managers and HR administration professionals surveyed by CareerBuilder, 22 percent plan to add full-time permanent employees in 2013, up 3 percentage points from 2012. Thirty-six percent plan to hire temporary and contract workers in 2013, up 2 percentage points from last year. Of these employers, 37 percent expect to transition seasonal employees to full-time staff within the year.

Despite these positive predictions, healthcare, like many other industries, is facing a skills gap. More than one-fifth of professionals surveyed by CareerBuilder said they can’t find the right talent to fill open positions. In effort to attract and retain skilled employees, more than half will offer higher salaries to prospective hires and 67 percent will boost paychecks for current employees in 2013.

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