The following is part of our series wading through the economic jargon, Crunching Numbers.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Despite a weak U.S. job market overall in August, the health care industry continues to reign as one of the nation's leading growth industries.

Health care employment rose by a net of 16,700 jobs nationwide last month, accounting for 17 percent of the net gain of 96,000 jobs according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Though the aging U.S. population has helped facilitate the rising demand for health services, the health care industry has slowed as a job creator this summer with job gains averaging 15,000 per month from June to August, down from 28,000 the prior 12 months, government data show.

Paul Nguyen, 30, who owns GovStaff- a health care recruiting company based in Signal Hill, Calif., said he has noticed the difference, especially in working primarily with public-sector hospitals.

"[The public sector] has gone down because of budget cuts and that's why you just try to expand out to other areas. You can't just survive on the state anymore," Nguyen said.

In addition to budget cuts, the American Medical Association has calculated that anticipated cuts to Medicare would put 78,000 of California’s health care jobs in jeopardy by 2021.

Another question facing health care employment would be the impact of Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, which the Supreme Court upheld in June.

However, Jordan Levine, director of economic research at Beacon Economics in Los Angeles, argues that as a demographic-driven industry with a growing aging population, health care shouldn't be affected by changes in federal or state policy.

"Keep in mind, with Obamacare, there’s significant money coming into the state as part of it will be subsidized by federal government. That could be a positive for us," Levine said.

Prior to Obamacare, Nguyen had thought about expanding his business outside California, beyond its current 30 employees. But if required to provide health care or face penalties under the federal mandate, he isn't so sure.  In fact, he isn't sure he wants to be in the health care business at all.

“It’s stressful,” he said. “That’s why I’m going back to law school.”

Another challenge for Nguyen has been coping with a glut of health care workers in some industry fields while employers are getting pickier.

“Everyone wants to live in California, so all of the nurses from other states- from Alabama, Mississippi, from down South, come to California," said Nguyen. "In North Dakota, [nurses] make a lot of money out there. But it's North Dakota."

In addition to nursing, other professions for which he has more applicants than jobs to fill include X-ray technicians and respiratory therapists - all which require an associate degree at minimum.

By contrast, the jobs most difficult for him to find candidates for include physical therapists, occupational therapists or speech pathologists, all of which require master's degrees.

Yet experts such as Levine say that the recent slowdown in health care job growth does not necessarily reflect a decelerating health care industry; rather, it is more indicative of the economy as a whole.

“The overall job growth has been slower this year nationwide. That’s not specific to healthcare, that’s a general trend that we’ve observed,” Levine said. “Since health care didn’t shed that many jobs during the recession, there’s no need for accelerated growth to catch up. We’re already above our pre-recession peak.”

Read more from Neon Tommy's Crunching Numbers series here.

Find more Neon Tommy coverage on health care here.

Reach Managing Editor Paige Brettingen here. Follow her here.