Connecticut healthcare employment COVID recovery stalls out
Like other Connecticut workers, healthcare employment was hit hard by the pandemic in March 2020, according to data from the CT Department of Labor. While the pandemic sharply increased demand in a few healthcare sectors to care for COVID patients, other sectors declined as people and providers delayed non-COVID care. That began to change in this summer and healthcare had recovered 21,000 jobs by October. However the trend reversed, by this January losing 6,200 jobs, and ending 6.3% below January 2020 levels. This rebound and reversal mirrored overall Connecticut employment trends. Throughout the pandemic, healthcare has remained about 13% of total employment.
Not all healthcare sectors were hit equally. Hospital employment has rebounded almost to pre-pandemic levels, down just 0.7% from January 2020. But employment in nursing and residential facilities never rebounded and this January were down 7,500 jobs (12.4%) from a year before.
Healthcare jobs outside hospitals and nursing/residential facilities have fared a little better than overall Connecticut employment (-5.8% and -7.3% respectively).