Employment
As the largest industry in 2004, health care provided 13.5 million jobs—13.1 million jobs for wage and salary workers and about 411,000 jobs for self-employed and unpaid family workers. Of the 13.1 million wage and salary jobs, 41 percent were in hospitals; another 22 percent were in nursing and residential care facilities; and 16 percent were in offices of physicians. About 92 percent of wage and salary jobs were in private industry; the rest were in State and local government hospitals. The majority of jobs for self-employed and unpaid family workers in health care were in offices of physicians, dentists, and other health practitioners—about 282,000 out of the 411,000 total self-employed.
Health care jobs are found throughout the country, but they are concentrated in the largest States—in particular, California, New York, Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania.
Workers in health care tend to be olderthan workers in other industries. Health care workers also are more likely to remain employed in the same occupation, due, in part, to the high level of education and training required for many health occupations.