The Jobs Outlook: Mixed bag

The Jobs Outlook: Mixed bag

It's the best of times, worst of times for healthcare jobs.

First, the bad news: 2010 may go down as the worst year ever for mass layoffs in hospitals (American Medical News, Oct. 4).

At the same time, physician practices are hiring, in anticipation of increased demand for services as health reform ramps up (American Medical News, Sept. 20).

Meanwhile, new data for September shows that online ads for health professionals fell for the third straight month, although "vacancies continue to outnumber skilled healthcare job seekers by 2 to 1" (HealthLeaders Media, Sept. 30).