The Healthcare pivot: Where workers can find opportunity amid a slow labor market
The Healthcare pivot: Where workers can find opportunity amid a slow labor market
The current trajectory of the U.S. labor market reveals a striking reliance on a single sector for sustained growth. Over the past year, healthcare has accounted for approximately 69% of all national job gains. This concentration suggests that the industry is acting as a primary stabilizer for the broader economy, a role driven more by the structural needs of an aging population than by cyclical economic growth.
As demographic shifts continue to increase the demand for medical services, healthcare is positioned to be a permanent center of gravity for the American workforce. For workers navigating stagnation in other sectors or seeking to re-enter the market, this growth presents a strategic opportunity to pivot into a high-demand field.
Debunking hurdles
Healthcare can seem like a far reach for many workers, given the specialized training required for many roles. However, not all roles within healthcare demand years of advanced schooling and technical expertise. In fact, on ZipRecruiter’s job posting platform, 47.8% of healthcare jobs are entry-level positions - meaning there are opportunities for many to make the jump into healthcare. Some of the most in-demand entry-level healthcare positions require limited training, making them more accessible for workers who are looking to change fields. Certified Nursing Assistants and Medical Assistants are high-demand jobs, and only require training programs of 12 weeks or less. Other positions, like Home Health Aides and Home Care Providers, require no formal training and are growing in demand as the US population continues to age.
Matchmaking across occupations
There might be a perception that healthcare jobs require an entirely unique skill set. But an analysis of skills overlaps by ZipRecruiter across millions of job postings suggests that many workers are already primed to enter the healthcare field. By weighting the relevance of the top 25 skills in various occupations, the data identifies high-potential pipelines from non-medical fields.
Notably, the Education and Training sector demonstrates the most robust overlap with Healthcare. Educators, particularly those in post-secondary and secondary settings, utilize core competencies, like collaboration, management, and communication, that are foundational to clinical and administrative healthcare roles.
Transition spotlights: From the classroom and the office to the clinic
While the industry level data shows a strong link between education and healthcare, the occupation level data reveals exactly where these matches are made. By analyzing the compatibility score, which measures how closely a worker’s current top skills align with the priorities of a new role, several high potential pipelines are identified.
The strongest match in the entire dataset exists between Post-Secondary Educators and Healthcare Administrators and Managers. With a relative compatibility score of 100 out of 100 (meaning these positions have the best compatibility across all occupations analyzed), these professionals are already masters of the high level management and instructional frameworks required to run a medical facility. For a university professor or department head, the transition into healthcare administration is less about learning how to lead and more about applying established leadership skills within a clinical regulatory environment.
A similar pattern appears when looking at administrative roles. The data highlights a near perfect mirror between Office Administration and Healthcare Administrators and Managers, showing a 93.5 compatibility score. These workers already possess core competencies in documentation, scheduling, and system oversight. The primary gap for these workers is often a single technical hurdle, such as clinical documentation or basic medical terminology, rather than a lack of foundational capability.
For those looking at patient facing roles, the leap from caregiving or Vocational Instruction to Registered Nursing is also shorter than many realize. While nursing requires specific clinical certifications, the underlying professional architecture of the job is already present in these source roles. The ability to prioritize tasks, collaborate with teams, and instruct patients are skills these workers use daily. While the skill gap in this instance is technical, including areas like telemetry or interventional skills, the professional temperament is already a match.
Identifying the primary gap
What makes these transitions actionable is that the missing links are often highly specific. For most high compatibility workers moving from education or administration, the primary barrier is not a lack of leadership or communication. Instead, it is a need for targeted training in areas such as clinical documentation or medical specialties.
By focusing on these specific technical bridges rather than broad retraining, the healthcare industry can more efficiently tap into the existing talent pools of stagnant industries. These workers are not starting over. Instead, they are simply translating their expertise into the economy’s new center of gravity.
Structural barriers extend beyond skills
Despite the clear potential for these transitions, several challenges remain for both the workforce and the industry. To effectively bridge the gap, the field must address specific bottlenecks that prevent qualified workers from entering the fold.
While baseline skills are transferable, technical certifications remain a requirement. Fluctuations in medical training funding and the high cost of upskilling can discourage mid-career professionals from making the leap. Current policy initiatives could create more barriers in healthcare training, potentially limiting the expansion of the workforce in the coming years.
Furthermore, record demand has not always translated into better conditions for workers. Salary transparency has fallen for healthcare workers in recent months, with fewer than 4 in 9 healthcare job postings on ZipRecruiter sharing a salary range, providing less information and bargaining power to job seekers in this sector. And despite the rise in job growth for healthcare, staffing shortages still impact workers, leading to burnout and rising workplace tensions. According to ZipRecruiter’s 2025 Q4 survey of new hires, the top drivers causing workers in healthcare to leave their last job was high stress and poor management. Perhaps better pipelines between occupations that bring more people into the healthcare workforce could ease some of the staffing shortages. But with stability top of mind for all in this stagnating labor market, creating a more sustainable working environment for healthcare workers will be key to boost healthcare labor to meet the demand challenges coming with an aging population.
Conclusion
The dominance of healthcare in recent job growth reports highlights a unique window for workforce realignment. By recognizing and leveraging the skill overlaps in sectors like education and administration, the labor market can become more resilient. Workers are already bringing the foundational pillars of management, instruction, and collaboration to the table.
For this transition to be successful, the industry must ensure that the pathways to entry are accessible and that the quality of work remains sustainable. Addressing the cost of technical training and the stagnation of benefits will be essential to attracting the professionals needed to support an aging population. If these barriers are addressed, the healthcare industry can move from being a temporary crutch for the labor market to a permanent home for a diverse and skilled American workforce.