U.S. nursing home employment down in latest jobs report
10 May 2021
Health care employment in the U.S. remained sluggish last month with a drop of about 19,500 nursing and residential care facility jobs, according to the latest labor report.
Why it matters: It's the latest sign of the lingering economic hardship the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked on health care and, in particular, on the nursing home industry.
It looks like there's a long road ahead for health care with employment in the industry still down by 542,000 jobs since February 2020. There was a net drop of about 4,100 jobs between March and April 2021.
- Nursing homes are facing a reckoning, with more families reconsidering alternatives after infections spread like wildfire in many facilities, the New York Times reports.
- More than 132,000 U.S. nursing home residents and about 1,900 nursing home staff died from COVID-19 infections.
Hospitals also reported drops in employment, posting a job loss of 5,800 jobs between March and April.
Yes, but: About 21,000 new ambulatory care jobs were added in April. That included 11,300 jobs added in physician's offices.
- That news comes as health systems report a recovery of some revenue, largely driven by a rebound in outpatient business.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.