Is Healthcare Support & Healthcare Administration a Good Job Market in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD?

Executive Verdict

Market rating: balanced | Confidence: High

This is still a workable market, but not an easy one. Philadelphia metro unemployment was 4.1% in June 2026, metro employment was up 2.0513% year over year, and education and health services employment reached 759.6 thousand, up 2.1792% year over year, which says the local base is still expanding.[15][16][21] At the same time, Revelio Public Labor Statistics shows Pennsylvania healthcare support & healthcare administration employment up 1.6% year over year while active postings for the same family were down 21.9% year over year in July 2026, so openings exist but employers appear more selective than a year ago.[13][14] We observed more than 1,000 postings across more than 200 companies over the last 90 days, with hiring fragmented across employers rather than dominated by one system.[17][26]

Best positioned: Candidates with recent patient-facing or front-office healthcare experience, Basic Life Support or CPR, and clear EHR, documentation, vitals, or phlebotomy skills have the best odds right now.[4][1][5]

Main caution: The biggest mistake is assuming this is a remote-friendly or high-pay market: about 95% or more of sampled roles are on-site, and hourly postings center on about $19 to $23 / hour in a metro where overall cost of living is estimated 7.0% above the national average.[3][18][24]

What Changed Recently

• Philadelphia metro unemployment was 4.1% in June 2026, down 12.7660% year over year, while metro employment was up 2.0513% year over year.[15][16]: The backdrop is healthier than a year ago, so the main challenge is matching what employers want, not a collapsing local economy.
• Education and health services employment in the metro reached 759.6 thousand in June 2026, up 2.1792% year over year.[21]: Because most support and admin jobs sit under providers, clinics, and related services, this is the clearest local sign that the sector base is still expanding.
• Revelio Public Labor Statistics shows Pennsylvania healthcare support & healthcare administration employment up 1.6% year over year in July 2026, but active postings for the same family were down 21.9% year over year.[13][14]: The market still needs workers, but employers are posting fewer fresh openings than last summer, so searches can take longer.
• National payroll growth stayed positive but mild, with total nonfarm employment at 158858 thousand in July 2026, up 0.1993% year over year.[20]: That usually supports continued local hiring without creating the kind of labor shortage that forces quick offers or big pay jumps.

What This Means for You

Entry-Level Candidates

Difficulty: Moderate.

Best target: Aim first at hospital outpatient support, caregiver, or clinic-assistant paths where patient care, vital signs, phlebotomy, and documentation are repeatedly requested, and where home-based care employers are also visibly active.[1][2]

Biggest mistake: Applying as generic admin help and ignoring that this market is overwhelmingly on-site and often screens for BLS or CPR even in support roles.[3][4]

Next step: Within 30 days, make your resume explicit on EHR, patient care, vital signs, phlebotomy, and documentation, and renew BLS or CPR if you want patient-facing roles.[4][1][5]

Mid-Career Candidates

Difficulty: Moderate to competitive.

Best target: Target patient access, clinic support, health-plan support, and operations-heavy roles inside Jefferson Health, Penn Medicine, Jefferson Health Plans, or Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, where repeated employer signals suggest ongoing need.[6][7]

Biggest mistake: Presenting yourself as a generic office manager instead of showing healthcare-specific workflow results in scheduling, records, patient coordination, billing, or documentation.[8][1][9]

Next step: Rewrite your resume around throughput, no-show reduction, insurance or authorization handling, documentation quality, and EHR workflow wins rather than only team supervision.[8][9]

Career Switchers

Difficulty: Competitive unless you narrow your story fast.

Best target: The cleanest bridge is either home-based care support or clerical and intake support tied to healthcare delivery, where customer service and documentation can transfer more directly.[10][2]

Biggest mistake: Leading with general retail, hospitality, or office experience without showing medical terminology, compliance comfort, or software workflow readiness.[8][1]

Next step: Pick one bridge now: either a patient-facing path built around BLS or CPR and caregiver applications, or an admin path built around scheduling, billing, records, and patient communication.[8][4]

Salary Reality

moderate pay broad access

The cleanest local anchor is medical assistants at $19.03/hour and $39,590 annually in May 2025, while the broader healthcare support group in the metro showed a median of $18.15/hour, with a 25th-75th percentile band of $16.14/hour to $21.84/hour in May 2023.[11][12] More current posting data points to hourly roles centering on about $19 to $23 / hour, with a broader band of about $17 to $26 / hour, and one August 2026 contract Certified Medical Assistant posting advertised $860 to $920 per week.[18][23] Pennsylvania's mean offered salary on new openings for this broader occupation family was ~$52,779 in July 2026 per Revelio Public Labor Statistics (n=1,554), but that is a state-level mean across mixed support and administration roles, not a Philadelphia posted median.[32]

For most job seekers, this is a moderate-pay market: solid for steady entry access, but not rich enough to ignore commuting, shift differentials, or specialty add-ons. Philadelphia's cost of living is estimated 7.0% above the national average, so the same hourly rate goes less far than it would in a cheaper metro.[24]

Pay improves with shift work, technical bedside tasks, or broader clinic responsibility, but most openings are still entry-skewed and on-site.[19][1][3] Pennsylvania's ~$52,779 mean offered salary for this occupation family also sits below the state's all-occupation mean offered salary of ~$75,569, which is a reminder that stability does not equal premium compensation.[32]

Best-paying path: The strongest pay tends to sit in harder-to-fill hospital and specialty-clinic roles that bundle direct patient support with technical tasks such as phlebotomy, EKG, vital signs, documentation, and EHR upkeep, or in broader patient-access and coordination jobs that carry more workflow responsibility.[1][5][8]

Caution: Do not overread top-end averages: the family-level state mean mixes lower-paid aides, front-office staff, and higher-paid administrative roles, and some visible local postings are contract assignments rather than stable base-pay benchmarks.[32][23]

Where the Opportunities Are Concentrated

Real opportunity is concentrated in large regional health systems and related care networks. Over the last 90 days, the most consistently active employers in the sampled market included Jefferson Health with more than 75 postings, Virtua Health with more than 50, Penn Medicine with more than 50, Jefferson Health Plans with more than 50, and Seven Healthcare with more than 30.[6] Hiring is not monopolized by one employer: the sample shows a fragmented market across more than 200 companies, which is helpful if you are willing to apply broadly instead of waiting on one flagship brand.[17][26] A second pocket is home-based and suburban care. Visiting Angels Greater Philadelphia was advertising 63 open jobs and specifically seeking caregivers with CNA and home health aide credentials, which points to persistent demand beyond downtown hospital campuses.[2] Most of the sampled demand still sits squarely in healthcare organizations—about 70% in healthcare plus another about 15% in hospitals and health care—and about 95% or more of roles are on-site.[30][3] The admin side is there, but it is narrower and more workflow-specific than many career switchers expect. Employers are signaling demand for EHR, scheduling, patient coordination, medical billing, and documentation rather than generic office support.[8][1][5]

• Large hospital systems and health plans (high): Jefferson Health, Virtua Health, Penn Medicine, and Jefferson Health Plans account for much of the visible named-employer activity in the sampled market.[6]
• Home health and caregiving networks (high): Visiting Angels Greater Philadelphia was advertising 63 open jobs and specifically seeking caregivers with CNA and home health aide talent, signaling steady suburban and home-based demand.[2]
• Front-office and patient-access administration (moderate): Administrative opportunities exist, but the skill mix points to EHR, scheduling, billing, patient coordination, and documentation rather than generic office work.[8][1][10]

Where to focus: Focus first on large hospital systems and home-based care employers where volume is highest, then use that traction to move toward patient access or clinic operations.

Skills and Credentials Worth Pursuing

• EHR/EMR documentation (table stakes): Local and national signals keep pointing to EMR updates, documentation, electronic records management, and scheduling software as core screening items.[8][1][5]
• Patient care (table stakes): Patient care is the most-requested hard skill in the local sample at about 35%, so it is still the basic currency for the support side of this market.[1]
• Phlebotomy (differentiator): Phlebotomy shows up in about 20% of local postings, making it one of the clearest skill-based ways to separate yourself from general support applicants.[1]
• Vital signs and EKG (differentiator): Vital signs monitoring and EKG both appear in local skill signals, and current medical assistant roundups still highlight rooming, vitals, and basic procedures.[1][5]
• Medical terminology and documentation (table stakes): Medical terminology and documentation are recurring filters in the local sample, especially for roles that sit between clinical staff and front-office flow.[1]
• Basic Life Support (BLS) / CPR (differentiator): BLS certification appears in about 10% of local postings and CPR in about 5%, which means these credentials can move you past early screening for patient-facing roles.[4]
• Scheduling, medical billing, and patient coordination (premium): The admin side of the market is leaning toward scheduling software, medical billing, and patient care coordination rather than generic clerical support.[8][25]

Adjacent Roles to Consider

• Public health clerical assistant (bridge): Local public-health listings included a Philadelphia Department of Health clerical assistant role, so healthcare admin candidates can pivot into government health support with similar scheduling, records, and service skills.[10]
• Healthcare operations support (both): National nonclinical hiring signals emphasize operations, workflow efficiency, and process support, which overlap with practice-support and patient-access experience.[9]
• Revenue cycle / financial-performance support (pivot): Financial-performance support is a named hiring driver in nonclinical healthcare, making revenue-cycle style work a logical neighboring path for admin candidates.[9][25]
• Primary care nurse (pivot): Local hospital talent networks still show on-site primary care nursing demand, so experienced support workers already on a licensure path may find a stronger long-run route there.[31]

30 / 60 / 90-Day Plan

First 30 Days

• Build two resume versions: one for patient-facing support and one for front-office or patient-access work, each using the actual keywords employers are screening for such as EHR, patient care, vital signs, phlebotomy, documentation, scheduling, and billing.[8][1][5]
• Renew or earn BLS or CPR now, and add medical assistant certification if that matches your target, because those are among the most commonly requested credentials in local postings.[4]
• Apply broadly across the fragmented employer set rather than waiting on one brand: Jefferson Health, Virtua Health, Penn Medicine, Jefferson Health Plans, Seven Healthcare, and Visiting Angels all show repeat demand signals.[6][2]
• Prioritize fresh postings and recheck weekly because the typical active posting has been open around 32 days.[22]

Days 31-60

• Add one concrete skill proof to your profile: a phlebotomy refresh, EKG or vitals workflow example, or a quantified patient-access or scheduling accomplishment.[1][9]
• Expand your commute radius to suburban sites and home-based care, because visible demand is not limited to Center City hospital campuses.[2]
• Ask recruiters about shift differentials, contract-to-hire terms, and on-site expectations before interviews because about 95% or more of roles are on-site.[3][23]
• Set a hard pay floor based on commute and schedule tradeoffs; most local postings cluster around about $19 to $23 / hour, and the area's cost of living is estimated 7.0% above the national average.[18][24]

Days 61-90

• If you are still not getting traction after 8-10 weeks, pivot into adjacent public-health admin or revenue-cycle support roles instead of only reapplying to hospital assistant titles.[10][9]
• Add employer-specific applications for Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic and local public-health departments, where dedicated career pages signal ongoing staffing need.[7][10]
• For upward mobility, target roles that add coordination, scheduling, billing, or operational responsibility, not only pure rooming tasks.[8][9]
• Reassess whether you want broad-access moderate-pay work or a longer clinical pivot; local support and admin pay looks stable, but it is not premium.[11][12][18]

Methodology and Confidence

This July 2026 report was generated on August 10, 2026. Latest direct national data: August 2026. Latest direct Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD data: August 2026.

Confidence: Overall confidence: High. Based on 9 direct local occupation data points and 26 total local evidence items with recent coverage.

Limitations

• The freshest local market context is current, but the clearest local occupation wage anchors lag: medical assistant pay is from May 2025 and the broader healthcare support wage distribution is from May 2023, so current offers can sit above or below those benchmarks.[11][12]
• This category combines bedside support roles with office-side administration, so a medical assistant or caregiver search can look very different from a patient-access or records search even inside the same metro.
• Some occupation trend signals use Pennsylvania statewide data as a proxy because a comparable metro-by-occupation series is not available here, so statewide employment and posting changes may not match Philadelphia exactly.[13][14]
• June 2026 metro unemployment and employment figures are preliminary and may be revised, so short-term changes are best read as direction rather than final counts.[15][16]
• The Callings.ai job database is a partial, deduplicated sample of online postings, so it is best for spotting leading employers, skill patterns, on-site versus remote mix, and rough pay bands—not for treating posting totals or percentage shares as a full census of every opening in the metro.[17][6][18][3][19][4][1]

References

1. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-07 · callings.ai
2. Getclera. Jobs at Visitingangelsgreaterphiladelphia | Clera · 2026-08 · getclera.com
3. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-07 · callings.ai
4. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-07 · callings.ai
5. Newsbreak. 🏥 Philadelphia Healthcare Jobs with Multiple Openings & $100K+ Roles - NewsBreak · newsbreak.com
6. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-07 · callings.ai
7. Jobs. Jobs at Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic · 2026-08 · jobs.trinity-health.org
8. Indeed Hiring Lab. Stethoscopes Without Borders: The Global Race for Healthcare Talent - Indeed Hiring Lab · 2026-07 · hiringlab.org
9. Robert Half. 2026 Nonclinical Healthcare Salary Trends: The Skills and Roles Driving Growth · 2025-10 · roberthalf.com
10. Publichealthcareers. Pennsylvania jobs | Public Health Careers · 2026-08 · publichealthcareers.org
11. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wages in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington — May 2025 · 2026-03 · bls.gov
12. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD - May 2023 OEWS Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates · 2024-04 · bls.gov
13. Reveliolabs. Employment — Revelio Public Labor Statistics (RPLS) · 2026-07 · reveliolabs.com
14. Reveliolabs. Job Openings — Revelio Public Labor Statistics (RPLS) · 2026-07 · reveliolabs.com
15. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data · 2026-06 · data.bls.gov
16. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data · 2026-06 · data.bls.gov
17. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-07 · callings.ai
18. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-07 · callings.ai
19. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-07 · callings.ai
20. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data · 2026-07 · data.bls.gov
21. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data · 2026-06 · data.bls.gov
22. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-07 · callings.ai
23. Jobs. Staffing Solutions for Healthcare Professionals | GHR Live! · 2026-08 · jobs.ghresources.com
24. C2er. The Council for Community and Economic Research – Promoting excellence in community and economic research since 1961 · 2026-05 · c2er.org
25. Robert Half. 2026 Healthcare Salaries and Compensation Trends · 2025-10 · roberthalf.com
26. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-07 · callings.ai
27. Inquirer. Philadelphia local news, sports, jobs, cars, homes · 2026-07 · inquirer.com
28. Nj. Nj - warn_notice_layoff · 2026-07 · nj.gov
29. Reveliolabs. Mass-layoff Notices — Revelio Public Labor Statistics (RPLS) · 2026-07 · reveliolabs.com
30. Callings.ai. Callings.ai job-market aggregation · 2026-07 · callings.ai
31. Chop. Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia Talent Network - Contract Opportunities · 2026-07 · chop.willhire.co
32. Reveliolabs. Salaries — Revelio Public Labor Statistics (RPLS) · 2026-07 · reveliolabs.com

Live Openings in This Market

This report is published monthly; its companion page tracks the active Healthcare Support & Healthcare Administration openings in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD from the live Callings.ai job index. Browse current Healthcare Support & Healthcare Administration openings in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD.