Although the U.S. saw disappointing results for employment in June, the healthcare sector saw reasonable gains that could potentially point to continued growth.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its “Job Openings and Labor Turnover” report July 29, leading to discussions about slowing economic growth. However, hospitals, physician offices and dental offices added a surprising number of jobs. Barry Lyon, DDS, the dental director for Main Street Children’s Dentistry and Orthodontics and the chief clinical auditor for Dental Care Alliance, connected with Becker’s to discuss the report.
Editor’s note: This Q&A is part of a weekly series featuring Dr. Lyon focused on topics in the dental industry and DSO field. The views expressed are those of Dr. Lyon and do not necessarily reflect those of Main Street Children’s Dentistry and Orthodontics or Dental Care Alliance.
This response was lightly edited for clarity and length.
Dr. Barry Lyon:
The latest jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is not considered good news, especially for Erika McEntarfer, the BLS commissioner who was fired by President Donald Trump for being the messenger. The number of employed Americans changed little last month, while job gains for May and June were revised downward by a combined 258,000 jobs, the largest since 1979 with the exception of 2020. Only 73,000 jobs were added, 42,000 fewer jobs than expected. This clearly indicates the labor market is weakening. Notably, the foreign-born labor force also declined in July. “This [jobs report] is really bad because you can see the impact of trade and immigration policy hurting demand for hiring,” Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US, told CNN.
The July jobs report, together with the carrying out of Trump’s tariffs, reveals a U.S. economy facing tenuous times. The combination of disappointing job growth and the possibility of higher consumer costs due to tariffs are raising concerns about the country’s economic outlook.
While there were significantly fewer job gains than expected, healthcare showed surprising growth by adding 55,400 jobs, or nearly 76% of the jobs added in July. Dental offices added 7,100 employees while physician offices added 6,700 employees. These are very unexpected numbers since dentistry and medicine have been plagued by hiring challenges since the Great Resignation beginning in 2020. Could this possibly be the beginning of a hiring turnaround for the dental profession? Or, is this only a short-lived gain before feared economic realities take place?
