May 2015 Occupational Employment and Wages — 2016-03-30

Healthcare occupations had employment of 12 million in May 2015, representing nearly 9 percent of total national employment, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Registered nurses, with more than 2.7 million jobs, was the largest healthcare occupation. The largest healthcare occupations also included nursing assistants (1.4 million), home health aides (820,630), and licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (697,250). The data in this news release are the May 2015 employment and wage estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. These estimates cover over 800 occupations for the nation, states, and nearly 600 metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas; and for more than 460 industry classifications at the national level. Some healthcare occupations were among the highest paying occupations overall, including several physician and dentist occupations. Nurse anesthetists, with an annual mean wage of $160,250; podiatrists ($136,180); and pharmacists ($119,270) also were among the highest paying healthcare occupations.