Department of Healthcare Administration and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89119, USA.
Office of Research, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89102, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 8;18(8):3894. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18083894.
The resilience of the healthcare industry, often considered recession-proof, is being tested by the COVID-19 induced reductions in physical mobility and restrictions on elective and non-emergent medical procedures. We assess early COVID-19 effects on the dynamics of decline and recovery in healthcare labor markets in the United States. Descriptive analyses with monthly cross-sectional data on unemployment rates, employment, labor market entry/exit, and weekly work hours among healthcare workers in each healthcare industry and occupation, using the Current Population Survey from July 2019-2020 were performed. We found that unemployment rates increased dramatically for all healthcare industries, with the strongest early impacts on dentists' offices (41.3%), outpatient centers (10.5%), physician offices (9.5%), and home health (7.8%). Lower paid workers such as technologists/technicians (10.5%) and healthcare aides (12.6%) were hit hardest and faced persistently high unemployment, while nurses (4%), physicians/surgeons (1.4%), and pharmacists (0.7%) were spared major disruptions. Unique economic vulnerabilities faced by low-income healthcare workers may need to be addressed to avoid serious disruptions from future events similar to COVID-19.
医疗行业通常被认为具有抗衰退能力，但 COVID-19 导致的身体活动减少和对非紧急医疗程序的限制正在考验着这一能力。我们评估了 COVID-19 对美国医疗保健劳动力市场衰退和复苏动态的早期影响。使用 2019 年 7 月至 2020 年期间的“当前人口调查”，对每个医疗保健行业和职业的医疗保健工作者的失业率、就业、劳动力市场进入/退出以及每周工作时间进行了月度横截面数据分析。我们发现，所有医疗保健行业的失业率都大幅上升，牙医办公室（41.3%）、门诊中心（10.5%）、医生办公室（9.5%）和家庭保健（7.8%）受到的早期影响最大。技术人员/技术员（10.5%）和医疗助理（12.6%）等低薪工人受到的打击最为严重，失业率持续居高不下，而护士（4%）、医生/外科医生（1.4%）和药剂师（0.7%）则未受到重大干扰。需要解决低收入医疗保健工作者面临的独特经济脆弱性问题，以避免未来类似 COVID-19 的事件造成严重干扰。
