Healthcare—HC Payroll Growth ~Stable vs. March and Remains Above Pre-Covid Levels

Research evidence excerpt

Healthcare—HC Payroll Growth ~Stable vs. March and Remains Above Pre-Covid Levels

Equity Research

Industry Update — June 5, 2026

Health Care Services

Healthcare—HC Payroll Growth ~Stable vs.

March and Remains Above Pre-Covid Levels

Our Call Stephen Baxter, CFA

HC payroll growth in April was essentially stable with March and above 1Q26 and pre Equity Analyst | Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

Stephen.Baxter@wellsfargo.com | 212-214-8041

Covid avg growth rates. Ambulatory saw stable y/y growth relative to March levels, and

Mitchell Ostrovskywas above LTM avg. Hospital growth slowed some, at lowest since Nov 2025.

Associate Equity Analyst | Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

Mitchell.Ostrovsky@wellsfargo.com | 212-214-7243

Data. Today (6/5), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the April 2026 Thomas Muller

Employment Situation. We see the data as important to monitor because it provides Associate Equity Analyst | Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

insight into labor trends in healthcare and an indirect read-through to demand and Thomas.Muller@wellsfargo.com | 332-214-6218

capacity. In addition, we see nonfarm payrolls as representing a reasonable proxy for James Lemmis

changes in employer-based insurance coverage. BLS also released the Job Openings and Associate Equity Analyst | Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) results for April on 6/2. James.Lemmis@wellsfargo.com | 212-214-5336

Total Nonfarm Payrolls. May total nonfarm payrolls increased 0.5% m/m, and increased

0.3% y/y, to 159.5MM. We are tracking not seasonally adjusted data—the 172K “headline”

increase reported is seasonally adjusted. From 2015 to 2019, nonfarm payrolls, on

average, increased 0.6% m/m and increased 1.7% y/y in May. Relative to Dec 2019 levels,

total nonfarm payrolls are 104.3%.