U.S. jobs data released on Friday for the month of April showed a significant increase in skilled nursing facility (SNF) employment, with the sector adding 6,300 positions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

This puts the raw number of those employed in SNFs in April at 1,585,400, which compares to a revised 1,579,100 for March. That March revision was 1,600 jobs larger than reported last month, so in March, SNFs added 4,000 jobs compared to the original 2,400 jobs, putting the March-April SNF job increase at more than 10,000 jobs.

On a year-to-year basis, the robust numbers are even larger. A year ago in 2025, some 1,541,200 people were employed by SNFs. That puts the April 2026 jobs count 44,200 higher than last year.

The BLS report shows the SNF sector “is on a roll,” said Mark Parkinson, former head of the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living, and CEO of Park Place Live.

“To see 6,300 new employees in a month is gratifying. It's foolish to get too excited over one month’s data, but the multi-year trend is undeniable. From the depths of depending on agency workers during COVID, until now, our workers have come back,” he said.

The positive BLS report for SNFs reflected much-better-than-expected national numbers. For April, employment rose by a seasonally adjusted115,000 for the month, down from the 185,000 created in an unusually strong March but better than the 55,000 forecast in the Dow Jones consensus estimate, according to a CNBC report.

The unemployment rate in April remained at 4.3 percent, the same as in March.

All numbers are seasonally adjusted.

Questions or comments? Contact Patrick Connole at pconnole@parkplacelive.com.