Healthcare Industry Adds 544,000 Jobs During Recession, Will Media Notice?

Since the recession began in December 2007, employers have shed about 7 million nonfarm jobs sending the unemployment rate to 9.7 percent, a 26-year high.

By contrast, the healthcare industry -- which according to Democrats and their media minions is in a state of crisis desperately needing reform -- has actually added 544,000 workers.

If we had an honest media, given the current debate over healthcare and the pending legislation in Congress, the following paragraph from this morning's announcement by the Labor Department would be an important component in every report about the August unemployment numbers:

Employment in health care continued to rise in August (28,000), with gains in ambulatory care and in nursing and residential care. Employment in hospitals was little changed in August; job growth in the industry slowed in early 2009 and employment has been flat since May. Health care has added 544,000 jobs since the start of the recession.

This is how the increase in healthcare jobs looks in graphic form:

Meanwhile, this is a picture of the total labor market:

In the end, the healthcare industry is one of only a few in our nation that have added jobs since the recession began.

You would think that an industry that has continued to add to its payrolls EVERY MONTH during what many have declared the worst economic period since the Great Depression would be heralded by media rather than chastised and considered in a state of crisis. 

Why isn't it?