Healthcare gained 43,200 new jobs in July, slightly more than the 12-month average of 39,700 new jobs per month, according to the Health Sector Economic Indicators briefs released by the Altarum Institute’s Center for Sustainable Health Spending.

Strong growth in hospital hiring put the July figure of 17,100 above the 12-month average of 15,300. Nursing and residential care settings added 7,200 jobs in July, more than twice the 12-month average of 3,200.

Continuing the recent pattern, healthcare jobs increased 3.2% year over year while nonhealth jobs increased 1.6%. The health share of total employment held at the all-time high of 10.78%, according to the report.

“Health spending growth has shown the expected slowing since the bump associated with Affordable Care Act expanded coverage, and could drop below 5% during the second half of 2016,” said Charles Roehrig, founding director of the center. “This would be consistent with the latest CMS 11-year projections showing 4.8% growth for 2016.”

Altarum Institute is a nonprofit health systems research and consulting organization. The research analyzed data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation report.