The December jobs report brought unwelcome news for many American households: the job market is cooling, and health care remains one of the few sectors still hiring — as medical costs continue to strain budgets.
“The US economy added just 50,000 jobs in December, capping off one of the weakest years of job gains in decades,” CNN explained.
New York Times economics reporter Ben Casselman noted it was “the slowest pace of growth since 2020.”
“This is pretty wild,” Casselman continued. “Health care & social assistance accounted for essentially ALL of private-sector job growth in 2025.”
Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal, reacted similarly.
“Wow,” she exclaimed. “2025 would have been a year of job LOSS without healthcare and social assistance.”
Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health care policy at KFF, suggested the report landed hard for American households, revealing that in the numbers Long cited is a “double whammy.”
Seeing almost all job growth was in the health care sector, Levitt wrote: “This is, in a sense, a double whammy for affordability.”
“Jobs are hard to come by for many,” he noted, “while job growth in health care is a sign of increasing health care costs.”
In other words, Americans are getting squeezed from two directions.
With fewer jobs, and Americans struggling to find jobs — or good-paying jobs — they may have less income, effectively making goods and services less affordable.
On top of that, there are increasingly higher health care costs to contend with, in part thanks to the increased funds flowing through the health care system, and the increased premiums many using the Obamacare exchanges are seeing.