Key Takeaways
• Healthcare continues to drive a disproportionate share of U.S. job growth, helping to make it one of the most stable verticals for promo business.
• Distributors report more consistent ordering from healthcare clients.
• Employee appreciation programs remain a key source of repeat business, helping sustain steady promo demand.
• Budget pressure is rising, however, with buyers seeking greater value and scrutinizing pricing more closely than before.
The U.S. labor market has struggled since 2022, when hiring and job growth began to plummet from their post-pandemic peak.
Arguably the only thing keeping it from falling into complete disarray? The healthcare sector.
Despite making up only about 15% of the overall U.S. workforce, job gains in healthcare have accounted for a disproportionate share of overall monthly growth – often upward of 50%. And in many cases, it was job growth in healthcare and related social assistance professions that kept the monthly jobs report from falling into the red.
That steady demand has translated into equal stability for promo distributors working in the healthcare sector – both in terms of consistent orders throughout the calendar year and minimal spending pullback on print and promo essentials.
Eric Mapes – a brand consultant at Counselor Top 40 distributor Proforma (asi/300094) affiliate Baymare Promotional Group – for example, works with several large hospital systems in the San Antonio, TX, area. He notes his healthcare customers bring stability throughout the year with their order timing, as well as steady performance during times of economic uncertainty.
“There’s not as much up and down as there is with other clients,” Mapes says.
Healthcare jobs have grown consistently over the past two years.
The U.S. added nearly 700,000 healthcare jobs throughout 2025. In contrast, the total U.S. labor force added about 180,000 jobs that year.
Still, that leveling out doesn’t mean that the healthcare promo market – the second-largest vertical, accounting for $2.2 billion in North American promo sales in 2024 – is immune to many of the challenges distributors have faced over the past year. Slashed budgets, increased spending scrutiny and pressure to do more with less all mean that distributors have to be smart sellers, even in a more resilient market segment.
Read this full article on Counselor.
