Health care indicators - statistics on hospital employment, medical care prices, and national economic indicators

Health Care Financing Review, Spring, 1992 by Cathy A. Cowan, Carolyn S. Donham, Suzanne W. Letsch, Brenda T. Maple, Helen C. Lazenby

Throughout the first three quarters of 1991, employment in the health sector experienced growth similar to that of 1990. If this rate of growth continues throughout 1991, annual growth in employment in health service establishments will be about 5.0 percent. However, in June of 1992, BLS will release revised employment levels as a result of their annual benchmark, which could affect data as early as the second quarter of 1990. The June 1991 revisions to [TABULAR DATA OMITTED]

employment levels in the health services sector were substantial when compared with other industries as well as with previous revisions. These revisions indicated that original estimates of health sector employment had been too high in aggregate and for each of the health service specific sectors. Despite the downward revisions, growth in health services employment continued to outpace that in all private employment, however, the gap between them was not as great as originally estimated.

In most service-specific health care establishments, employment growth in the first three quarters of 1991 was similar to that experienced during calendar year 1990. Growth in employment in nursing and personal care facilities was the exception to this, showing continued accelerated growth for the past eight quarters, with quarterly growth being measured from the same quarter of the previous year. This acceleration could be the result of the aging of the population, as more elderly live increasingly longer lives. Of the 65 years of age or over population group, the proportion that is 85 years of age or over has been increasing, particularly in 1990 and 1991 (Social Security Administration, 1991). The Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988, which affected the Medicare nursing home benefit in 1989, is another possible cause for accelerated growth. In December 1989, the Act was repealed. Effects of the Act will linger until all Medicare beneficiaries who were entitled to nursing home benefits under the less restrictive provisions of the Act complete their nursing home stay (Levit et al., 1991).

Nearly 9 out of every 10 health care workers hold non-supervisory positions. During the third quarter of 1991, these non-supervisory health services employees worked an average of 32.7 hours per week, almost 2 hours less per week than the average 34.6-hour week worked by all private establishment workers (Table 3). Within service-specific health care establishments, workers in offices and clinics of dentists had the shortest average work-week (28.2 hours), while workers in private hospitals had the longest average work-week (34.2 hours).

Non-supervisory health sector workers earned higher hourly wages than all private sector workers, with average hourly earnings of $11.05 compared with $10.36 for private sector workers. Workers in private hospitals received the highest hourly wages, averaging [TABULAR DATA OMITTED]

$12.66 per hour, and workers in nursing and personal care facilities earned the lowest, averaging $7.60 per hour.