For the past two years, jobs have been relatively scarce in Montana, a trend marked by massive declines in manufacturing and construction employment.
Yet through it all, health care jobs have remained steady, though any chance of robust growth within the industry has been tempered by the economic realities of the state’s residents.
Demand for health care is high as usual, but many residents have either lost coverage or are too financially strapped to seek medical attention, particularly for elective surgeries and other procedures that can wait until more stable economic times.
So as high demand competes with limited bank accounts, the result is nominal health care job growth. But nominal is still good enough to take the lead in Montana’s employment rankings.
According to the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, the health care industry added about 1,400 jobs statewide between December 2007 and December 2009, a 2.5 percent growth. Education, in the Flathead and statewide, also grew during that period.
By comparison, construction declined by 28 percent, shedding more than 9,000 jobs. Manufacturing lost 1,300 jobs, a 6.4 percent decline, according to the state’s labor department.
The baby boomer generation is getting older, seeking more health care assistance as it ages. This helps fuel the health care industry, particularly in states such as Montana that have older-than-average populations. The labor department projects major gains in home health services over the next decade.
“By far, health care is the strongest grower,” said Barbara Wagner, an economist with the labor department. “It’s been a strong grower for the last 10 years.”
She added: “It’s recession proof, if you want to use that term. We see it here and at the national level.”
Dick Brown, president of the Montana Hospital Association in Helena, said the state’s health care industry hasn’t seen job growth in the last year as much as it has seen job stability. Hospitals have experienced layoffs, but in limited numbers, Brown said.
“As much as anything, we didn’t lose jobs where other industries did,” Brown said.
Occupations such as nursing are in perpetual need, with shortages affecting the industry across the state and nation. But because of layoffs and financial struggles, Brown said more people are shying away from medical attention, which has taken pressure off of health care providers with staff shortages.
But with the possibility of national health care reform providing coverage for more people, staff shortages could become a more imminent concern, Brown said. Suddenly, there could be a lot more people with health care access.
“This backlog of services might be difficult for the system to satisfy very smoothly,” Brown said.
On any given day, job postings at the Flathead Job Service in Kalispell are full of health care-related positions.
“They’ve continued to come in, but it hasn’t been booming,” said Laura Gardner, of the Flathead Job Service. “There haven’t been the huge layoffs that we’ve seen in other industries.”
Brad Eldredge, executive director of institutional research at Flathead Valley Community College, said only three industries gained jobs in Northwest Montana between the second quarter of 2008 and the second quarter of 2009: Education grew the most, then health care, then government.
As part of a presentation at the Economic Future of Flathead conference in January, Elredge provided occupational employment projections for 2008-2010. The chart shows largest growth in community and social services at just over 4 percent, followed by health care support and health care practitioners. The biggest declines are in construction and extraction, at almost 6 percent.
“I don’t see a lot of downside in the health care industry,” Eldredge said. “All of the projections say we’re going need more medical attention.”
Health care incorporates a wide range of job descriptions, from the most specialized of highly trained surgeons to part-time addiction counselors and nurse aids who straddle the line between the health care and social services occupational categories.
Jobs in the field often pay well, even for those that don’t require years of intensive training. Gardner said a nurse aid can earn more than $10 per hour – “which is a decent wage in our area” – after taking a several-week training course through certified nurse aid programs at FVCC or at local health care agencies.
Nurse aids often work at nursing homes, Gardner said, and perform chores to assist registered or licensed practitioner nurses. Average salary for registered nurses, Eldredge said, is $53,000 in the Flathead. There are 290 registered nurses, he said, in Flathead County.
“It’s a good profession and there’s a lot of them here,” he said.
But even when job postings are loaded with health care-related positions, much of the general workforce remains unaffected. Health care jobs require, in varying degrees, specialized training, meaning many people aren’t qualified, Gardner said. So these openings garner only a limited number of applications.
“Clerical or heavy machinery operation jobs get hundreds of applications,” Gardner said.
And one thing Montana has going for it, is that it’s a desirable destination for health care professionals, said Susan Catt, human resource director for Whitefish’s North Valley Hospital. Partly for this reason, North Valley doesn’t have significant problems with recruiting or turnover rates.
“Health care is an excellent career,” Catt said, “and it’s going to be a pretty stable career.”