The health care sector added half a million new jobs added since December 2007, while the rest of the economy saw 5.1 million job losses. The pace of new health care jobs has drastically reduced since the beginning of 2009, adding a mere 17,000 jobs per month for the first quarter (less than half of last year’s pace).

The notion that the health care industry is recession-proof is no longer valid. Health care facilities across the nation are registering losses in investment portfolios, seeing an increasing number of uninsured patients, getting less takers for elective procedures, and watching as state programs continue to cut back on funds.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “Health care usually weathers downturns better than many other industries because consumers tend to cut spending on cars or clothes before they forgo trips to the emergency room or pharmacy. But this recession is the deepest in a generation.”

The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Akron General Health System in Ohio have all had to make hard decisions as part of the economic decline.

Click here to read the entire story: Recession Now Hits in Health Care.