Brookings analyst Martha Ross said health care remains a bright spot for employment growth. "Even though the health care field is in the midst of major changes, it remains a labor-intensive enterprise," she said.
"Employment will only grow as baby boomers age and are more likely to use health care services."
Health care employs about 14.5 million people nationwide and accounts for 10.3 percent of jobs nationally.
"It's one of the few industries that has shown nothing but steadily upward growth in employment over the past decade," Ross said.
Even with some staffing adjustments, hospitals are still continually hiring due to normal turnover, especially in clinical care positions such as nursing and physical therapy.
As a result, graduates in nursing, physical therapy and other medical fields have generally fared better than most other college graduates in finding jobs, especially during the recession from 2009 through 2010.