Health care hiring slowed in September as FQHC job postings held steady

U.S. hiring slowed in September

Employers added 29,000 jobs in September. Private employers added 46,000, and government lost 17,000. BLS also lowered August to 133,000 jobs and July to a loss of 10,000. From July to September, the U.S. added about 51,000 jobs a month. Read the September report.

Unemployment rose from 4.1% to 4.2%. Hourly pay grew 3.0% over the year, down from 3.1% in August. On September 16, the Federal Reserve raised its rate to a range of 3.75% to 4.00%. Read the Fed statement.

California's unemployment rate was 5.1% in August. That is above the U.S. rate but lower than a year earlier. The state added 39,400 jobs, 18,600 of them in private education and health. EDD.

Health care slowed but kept growing

Health care added 16,700 jobs in September and about 24,400 in August. Over the prior 12 months, it averaged 33,000 a month. In September, hospitals added 12,000 and ambulatory care added 13,400. Nursing and residential care lost 8,700. Health care was about 36% of the month's net private job gain. See Table B-1.

BLS does not count health centers on their own. The closest group, outpatient care centers, added 3,400 jobs in September and about 1,500 in August. It also includes other kinds of clinics.

Openings fell and layoffs rose in August

BLS reports job openings for health care and social assistance together. In August, openings fell 115,000 to 1.36 million, about the same as a year earlier. Layoffs rose 50,000 to 199,000, up from 152,000 a year earlier. Quits were 467,000, down from 510,000. BLS called the monthly changes small. September numbers come out November 3. Open the August JOLTS release.

The sector still had about 1.9 openings for every hire. Across all jobs, it was about 1.4. New unemployment claims stayed low, at 199,000 in the week ending October 10. Continuing claims were 1.71 million in the week ending October 3. DOL claims.

Job postings rose a little, mostly at five health centers

At 116 health centers, job postings rose from 2,627 on August 2 to 2,774 on October 14, up 5.6%.

Behavioral health postings rose about 13%, faster than the total. RN postings rose about 7%. Medical assistant and front-desk postings were about flat.

Five health centers made up most of the gain. Without the three biggest gains, postings rose about 2%. The typical health center had the same number of postings in October as in August. Postings often rise in the fall, and more postings can also mean jobs stay open longer.

In California, 11 health centers on our jobs page went from 810 postings to 895. Most of the rise was 44 new supervisor postings at one health center. At the other ten, medical assistant postings fell from 62 to 43, and front-desk postings from 41 to 35. See open jobs.

SAC Health in San Bernardino filed a state layoff notice for 51 workers, effective September 28. EDD layoff notices.

Posted pay held

Since late July, 1,432 new postings matched a job the same health center had posted then. For those jobs, the median pay change was zero.

About 52% were within 2% of late-July pay. 28% were higher and 20% were lower. Medical assistant pay was the steadiest: 67% within 2%. Physician postings leaned lower: 40% came in more than 2% below late July. Many health centers set pay bands once a year, so ten weeks may be too short to see a change.

California postings ran higher. At six California health centers, 26 medical assistant postings had a median of about $28 an hour. None started below $26. Front-desk postings had a median of about $27. All six are in coastal cities, so the sample is small. See salary data.

The California health care minimum wage for community clinics is $22 an hour now and $25 on July 1, 2027. Workers paid under $25 will need a raise by then, unless their clinic gets a state waiver that postpones it. Read the DIR schedule.

Changing jobs still pays more than staying. ADP found base pay rose 3.0% over the year for people who stayed. For people who changed jobs, it rose 4.8%. ADP.

Funding deadlines

Health centers served more than 32.7 million patients in 2025, and 48% had Medicaid. Coverage rules shape their budgets most. KFF.

• October 1, 2026. Federal Medicaid eligibility ended for many lawfully present immigrants under the 2025 federal budget law. States can cover them with their own funds. Medicaid work rules must start by January 1, 2027, unless a state gets an extension. KFF · CMS
• December 11, 2026. Federal stopgap funding runs out. The law was signed September 2, so there was no October shutdown. CRS
• December 31, 2026. The Community Health Center Fund expires unless Congress renews it. It supplies about 70% of federal health center grant money. HRSA extended 272 health center grants, worth about $527 million, to mid-2027 while it runs a new grant competition. NACHC · Federal Register
• California. New Medi-Cal enrollment for undocumented adults froze on January 1, 2026. Medi-Cal lost about 730,000 members from June 2025 to March 2026. About a third of the drop, 244,000 people, were undocumented enrollees of all ages, CHCF found. The state kept PPS payments for this group for one more year. Fee-for-service rates now start July 1, 2027. DHCS · CHCF · Enacted budget

For health center leaders

For health center workers

Health centers are still hiring, and most posted pay has held. Medical assistant and front-desk openings did not grow, so apply while a job is still posted.

• • In California, compare offers with California pay. National medians in our data run lower.
• • Ask whether the job depends on federal money that Congress must renew by December 31.
• • Get bilingual pay, schedule, and student loan repayment terms in writing.
• • If a job has been posted a long time, ask whether the team is still interviewing.

Dates ahead

Frequently asked questions

Methods and sources

National numbers come from BLS, DOL, ADP, and the Federal Reserve. BLS will revise August and September on November 6. The August health care figure and the openings-per-hire ratios are our math from BLS tables.

Job postings come from health center career pages. On October 14 there were 9,561 postings at 324 health centers. The 116 health centers had postings on all 13 count days from August 2 to October 14. They hold about 29% of all postings. The chart shows 11 of those days. They leave out employers on five large hiring platforms, because our counts for those sites changed in this period. Only one of the 116 is in California. Counts are not adjusted for season. Role counts group job titles by keyword.

For pay, we use the middle of each new posted range, as yearly pay. We compare it with the same employer's late-July median for the same job. Some new postings are reposts of older jobs. A posting is not a hire or a funded position.