Healthcare Is Carrying the Entire U.S. Labor Market, 121% of Net Job Growth. Congress Just Cut Its Funding.
Issue
Analysis from the San Francisco Fed, Glassdoor, and CEPR reveals healthcare created virtually all sustained U.S. Job growth in 2025-2026. In January 2026, healthcare was 63% of all jobs added.
Over 12 months, healthcare created 121% of net employment gains while every other major sector was flat or negative. Inflation Insights' Omair Sharif warned: 'This is about a labor market so soft that it cannot withstand a strike of 31K healthcare workers, because no one else is hiring.'
With H.R. 1 Medicaid cuts threatening healthcare funding, this structural dependence is a national economic vulnerability.
Key points
- Healthcare = 121% of net U.S. Employment gains over 12 months; 63% of all jobs added in January 2026
- Every other major sector flat or negative — healthcare is the sole engine of job growth
- Omair Sharif: 'labor market so soft it cannot withstand a strike of 31K healthcare workers, because no one else is hiring'
- H.R. 1 Medicaid cuts threaten the one sector still creating jobs — a national economic vulnerability
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Part of
- Safety-net workforce and capacity shifts
The health care labor market
FQHC Talent. (2026, March 6). Healthcare Is Carrying the Entire U.S. Labor Market, 121% of Net Job Growth. Congress Just Cut Its Funding.. Source: Marketplace / APM. Retrieved October 6, 2026, from https://www.fqhctalent.com/intel/healthcare-carrying-labor-market