SAN FRANCISCO – The HWS Labor Market Pulse Index, a quarterly barometer of local market healthcare workforce fluctuations, shows near-term demand for healthcare workers growing fastest in Houston, Orlando and Atlanta for the third quarter of 2009.

The San Francisco Bay Area, Detroit and Los Angeles ranked at the bottom of the 30 markets tracked by Health Workforce Solutions, a research and advisory firm focused on workforce issues in healthcare.

The HWS findings for the third quarter of 2009 include:

• Much of the healthcare job growth is being fueled by newly announced expansion plans at organizations including West Houston Medical Center and the Emory Eastside Medical Center in Gwinnett, Ga.
• In metropolitan markets like the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles and Sacramento, Calif., large-scale layoffs at Kaiser Permanente had an impact this past quarter. Growth also slowed notably in Charlotte, N.C., although the Charlotte market still remains strong relative to the rest of the country.
• In the most recent quarter, 16 markets of the 30 tracked showed signs of accelerated expansion (vs. 20 in the prior quarter) but only 10 markets fell below national averages.
• The LMPI composite index, a representative basket of the 30 largest markets, posted a 1 percent increase in the third quarter of 2009 from the second quarter of 2009, as the national healthcare labor market began to slowly rebound and projects began to be put back on track.

"Although caution remains in a number of markets and the gains this quarter were small, it is still encouraging to see the national healthcare labor market begin to become vibrant again," said David Cherner, managing partner of Health Workforce Solutions. "We remain cautiously optimistic and hopeful that healthcare will lead the broader economy on the road back."