By: Beth Mace | August 09, 2021
The Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls rose by a strong 943,000 in July 2021 and an upwardly revised 938,000 in June. The consensus estimates for July had been for a gain of 858,000. Nonfarm payrolls are now up by 16.7 million since April 2020 but remain down by 5.7 million or 3.7% from pre-pandemic levels of February 2020. The data show that the U.S. recovery from the pandemic remains in place and that the hindrance on hiring from labor shortages may be easing.
By: Beth Mace | July 02, 2021
The Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls rose by a strong 850,000 in June 2021. The consensus estimates for June had been for a gain of 720,000. Employment is now up by 15.6 million since April 2020 but is down by 6.8 million or 4.4% from its pre-pandemic level in February 2020. The robust jobs report followed reports earlier this week that show a strengthening economy. This includes reports of strong consumer confidence, improving outlooks for capital spending by businesses and a report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that projected a full recovery of pandemic-related job losses by the middle of 2022. Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality (343,000), in public and private education, professional and business services, retail trade and other services.
By: Beth Mace | June 04, 2021
The Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls rose by 559,000 in May 2021. The consensus estimates for May had been for a gain of 675,000. Revisions did little to improve the disappointing April 2021 gain of 278,000. Recent monthly job increases have been disappointing for this point in the recovery. Indeed, despite the increase, job levels remain 7.6 million below the pre-pandemic levels of February 2020.
Economic Trends | Market Trends | Workforce
By: Beth Burnham Mace | May 10, 2021
The Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls rose by 266,000 in April. This was a sharp slowdown from the downwardly revised gain of 770,000 in March, originally reported as 916,000. The consensus estimates for April had been for a gain of 1,000,000. Despite the April increase, job levels remain 8.2 million below the pre-pandemic levels of February 2020.
