Health care jobs are in demand at the start of 2025, and application volume for health care roles increased 24% month over month in January and is 9% higher than in January 2024. That’s according to the latest iCIMS Insights February 2025 Workforce Report which captured hiring activity in health care and found increases in applications and openings.
Health care systems, hospitals and clinics across the country have long struggled to fill critical roles as an aging population drives the need for care, while the demanding nature of the field has deterred many from pursuing careers in it. But now, a shift may be underway revealing potential signs of relief for the industry.
“While we’re seeing movement in hiring activity, uncertainty still lingers across the labor market,” Laura Coccaro, chief people officer, iCIMS said. “Employers are opening more jobs, and candidates are showing renewed interest, but the question remains —will this momentum continue, or will hesitation return? HR leaders will need to remain agile and prepare for potential shifting hiring trends in the months ahead.”
Key hiring trends drawn from iCIMS’ report found:
The labor market waiting game continues. Activity for overall job openings and applications surged in January, up 35% and 32% respectively, month over month. Yet, hiring is down 5% from this time last year.
After pulling back on opening roles at the end of last year, health care job openings rose 25% from last month and inched up 5% higher than January 2024, largely driven by an uptick in applications and openings for clinical roles specifically (i.e., doctors, physician assistants, nurses, etc.).
Health care hires are down just 2% from January 2024.
Older workers are leading the health care charge. Just over half (52%) of applicants in health care were under 35 in January compared to 64% in the overall labor market. As older workers (55+) are beginning to retire from the health field, they may in turn be causing a shortage in some roles as well as well as creating additional need for health care services.
Applicants are showing interest in low-paying health care jobs. Applicants per opening (APO) for health care jobs with salaries under $50K rose slightly year over year, up from 28 to 31 APO. This is on par with APO for similar paying jobs across all other sectors, up from 30 to 35 APO in the same time series.
On the other hand, APO for six-figure health care jobs (21) was much lower than in the overall market (45) last month.
Health care jobs are getting filled faster. 2024 saw the lowest average time to fill in at least five years. On average, health care jobs took 37 days to fill last year, just a little over five weeks. This is a drop from two years ago, where the average was a solid 6 weeks (43 days).
For more on the iCIMS Insights February 2025 Workforce Report and a deeper dive into the latest workforce trends, click here.Â
