BOSTON, MA (May 31, 2012) — Online job postings for health care informatics—a set of health care occupations—are booming, far outpacing other health occupations as well as employment overall. This bright spot in the economy has gone largely unnoticed in national job reports because of the lack of occupational data about this evolving field—until now.
Health informatics professionals are involved with the collection, handling, and processing of clinical and medical information for a variety of purposes. A new study published for Credentials that Work, an initiative that promotes colleges’ use of real-time labor info to inform program offerings, found that job postings for health care informatics increased by 36 percent from 2007 to 2011, compared with a 9 percent growth in all health care postings, and 6 percent increase in all U.S. jobs.
The report, A Growing Jobs Sector: Health Informatics, was prepared by Burning Glass, a labor market analytics firm specializing in technologies that match people with jobs, for Jobs for the Future, a national nonprofit organization focused on aligning education for struggling populations with today’s high-demand careers.
Health informatics is a category that has become increasingly integrated into the management of clinical care—a development not yet reflected in official employment numbers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks just one type of health informatics position—medical records and health information technician—that accounts for only 60 percent of health informatics jobs. It ignores the growth in positions like supervisor and manager, auditor and compliance review staff, and clinical documentation and improvement specialists. At the same time, these positions have become more skilled, with entry-level jobs upgraded, lower-skilled positions shrinking, and greater clinical knowledge required for higher-level jobs.
“What’s more exciting is that many of these job postings specify required credentials so applicants can see exactly what they need in order to get these jobs,” said Myriam Milfort, a project manager at JFF. “Colleges, too, can know to offer training for in-demand certifications to help place students in good-paying jobs faster than ever.”
Citing new data sources mined from online job postings, JFF’s report shows how fast the field is growing. It also reveals new opportunities for workers to meet the demand and education providers to help prepare them.
“By analyzing online job postings we can identify emerging job trends like never before, and help educators and job seekers better understand how to make the most of new opportunities,” said Sue Goldberger of Burning Glass. “With the health care industry increasingly asked to account for efficiency and outcomes, it makes sense that the handling of financial and clinical data would become more intertwined and sophisticated, but it took real-time labor market tools to document this trend.”
To download A Growing Jobs Sector: Health Informatics, go to http://bit.ly/LJe0HN.
For more information on Credentials that Work, visit http://bit.ly/LUjW04.
About Burning Glass
Burning Glass was founded in 1999 with the goal of developing the world’s leading technologies for matching people with jobs. Its technologies deliver intuitive insight across a range of functions, including workforce and economic development and career exploration and counseling, as well as job matching. Its pioneering solutions leverage a deep understanding of people and their careers in order to deliver superior workforce and marketplace insight. Its patented artificial intelligence engine learns from actual career patterns as observed in both structured and natural language contexts in order to deliver an intuitive, real-time awareness of how and when people move from job to job and of the kinds of skills and experiences that lead to successful placement.
http://www.burning-glass.com
About Jobs for the Future
Jobs for the Future works with our partners to design and drive adoption of education and career pathways leading from college readiness to career advancement for those struggling to succeed in today’s economy.
www.jff.org
Twitter: @JFFtweets
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