Healthcare Industry Sees Highest Employee Demand

Since the pandemic caused a labor shortage in Montana, almost all industries saw a complete recovery as wages rose and much of the unemployed population reentered the workforce. But economists say the healthcare industry’s labor pool is still below pre-pandemic levels and it’s seeing the highest demand in job growth.

At the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) seminar in Kalispell last month, Executive Director Patrick Barkey said that while many industries suffered, most of them made complete recoveries, except for healthcare.

“Healthcare is one industry that has not climbed back to surpass its pre-pandemic levels of employment,” Barkey said. “It certainly has suffered a decline in the pandemic. The so-called recession-proof healthcare industry proved to be anything but during the pandemic recession.”

High rates of retirements, employees’ departure from the field, and hospitals’ financial stress has resulted in a tight labor market – creating challenges for the healthcare sector to recover.

Despite the staffing shortage, healthcare is expected to see the most job growth in Montana through 2031 as a result of Montana’s aging population and continued in-migration to the state, according to a Montana Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) report released last month. Healthcare currently makes up 15% of the payroll employment – making it Montana’s largest industry by employment.

In the next decade, the healthcare sector is projected to add an average of 1,170 jobs per year at a growth rate of 1.5%. Jobs in the highest demand are home health and personal care aids with 1,280 annual openings, nursing assistants with 850 annual openings, and registered nurses with 700 annual openings, according to the DLI report.

According to CareerOneStop, there were 37 registered nurse position vacancies while there were 31 certified nursing assistant vacancies in the Flathead Valley as of March 27. Logan Health had a total of 266 job openings, with positions ranging from accountants to surgeons. Some certified nursing assistant jobs at Logan Health include a $3,000 sign-on bonus.

Behind healthcare, other industries like construction, hospitality and professional and technical services will likely see significant employee growth.

Over the next 10 years, northwest Montana is expected to see an annual growth rate of 1.2%, the second-highest growth rate in Montana behind the southwest region of the state, according to the DLI data.

As a result of an influx in population in recent years, northwest Montana, which includes Missoula and Kalispell, is expected to see an increase of 2,070 jobs compared to the pre-period growth of roughly 1,420 jobs in a variety of industries.

The construction industry has been less impacted by the pandemic, and population growth and a rise in demand for development has caused increased economic activity and employment.

“Construction hardly had a decline at all, and it came back very strong,” Barkey said.

In northwest and southwest Montana, a high demand in residential construction has caused a significant expansion in the sector, with about 840 jobs expected to grow annually through 2031. Anticipated government infrastructure spending will also contribute to the employment growth.

Professional and technical services is expected to be Montana’s most rapidly growing industry by rate – an industry that generally requires higher levels of education and training in services like accounting, legal, consulting and research.

As of March 27, there were 1,149 total job openings listed on CareerOneStop in Kalispell, and Laura Gardner, the manager of the Montana DLI Workforce Service Division in Kalispell, said there’s still a high demand for employees.

“There’s still a lot of hiring going on,” Gardner said.

At the NW MT Job and Opportunity and High School Career Fair, Gardner said there are fewer employers registered than the year before, and some are telling her that they have all their positions filled.

Gardner said her team works to emphasize employee retention to local businessowners, and she suspects they are doing a better job of hanging on to their current employees.

“It’s definitely in the employers’ benefit to keep the workers that they have,” Gardner said.

The NW MT Job and Opportunity and High School Career Fair will take place on Thursday, April 6 at the Flathead County Fairgrounds Trade Center at 9 a.m.