Health care continues to keep the national job market positive. 37,000 of the 115,000 net jobs added to the American economy in April were in nursing homes (14.8K), home health care (10.8K), and other health care fields. Without that consistent and robust health employment growth, the Trump economy would be in labor trouble:
The healthcare sector added 37,000 jobs in April, and the sector’s dominance in monthly job creation has become a concern. Over the past year, the industry has added 618,000 jobs while every other sector combined has shed 367,000, according to Cory Stahle, senior economist at Indeed.
Strip healthcare out, and the U.S. labor market has been losing jobs in 10 of the past 12 months on a three-month average basis.
“Healthcare has been the dominant story in monthly job creation for years now, and it continues to mask deeper weakness elsewhere,” Stahle said. “This concentration of job growth in a single sector is a clear vulnerability, particularly as broader economic risks continue to mount” [Nicole Goodkind, “Solid Job Growth Pushes Fed Rate Cuts Further Out of Reach,” Barron’s, 2026.05.08].
The other sectors showing strong job growth in April were transportation and warehousing (30K), retail (22K), and social assistance (17K). Dragging down job counts were the federal government (–9K) and information (–13K). Mining and other extraction, construction, and manufacturing were flat.