Health jobs grow 0.8% in the quarter ended in June, says survey

The number of health workers grew 0.8% in the quarter ended in June this year, compared to the period between January and March 2022, reaching 4.7 million people, according to a survey released by the Institute for Supplementary Health Studies. (IESS).

Of the 4.7 million, 3.7 million or 79% are employees with a formal contract in private establishments. The private sector rose 1.2% in the period, while the public sector registered a drop in employment of 0.9%.

“Employments in the healthcare chain remained stable compared to the previous month, but they continue with an upward trend, as has been happening in the general economy, which had an even greater growth (1.7% in the quarter ended in June). The sector continues to generate employment opportunities, particularly in this period of accelerated resumption of the performance of procedures that had been postponed during the critical phases of the pandemic”, says the executive superintendent of IESS, José Cechin.

Distribution of the health production chain in the country

The survey shows that practically half of health workers are concentrated in the Southeast – 2.3 million. Then comes the Northeast, with 923.3 thousand; South, with 689.3 thousand; Midwest, 493.9 thousand; and North, 276.4 thousand.

In the period between April and June, the North had the highest growth of employees, 5.5%, followed by the South, with 2.2%, Central-West (0.9%) and Southeast (0.6%). The Northeast was the only region with a 1.1% reduction in employment, driven by the 5.6% drop in the public sector.

The region with the highest number of health workers per 100,000 inhabitants, in June 2022, was the Midwest, with 2,922, while the North had the lowest, with 1,445 per 100,000 inhabitants. Nationally, the average is 2,204, up from the same month last year, when the index was 2,140.

June balance

Taking into account only the month of June, health had a balance of 9,043 jobs created, with 17,040 jobs created in the private sector and 7,997 lost in the public sector. In March, the balance had been 17,673.

In the private sector, in the segment of health operators, the highest balance was for administrative assistants (125); in the segment of providers, nursing technicians (2,279); and in the supplier segment, pharmacy attendant (1,299).

In the public sector, the federal and municipal networks registered drops in hiring in June, compared to March, of -9.6% and -3.5%, respectively. The state networks added up to a high of 4.7%.