Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 850,000 in June, following increases of 583,000 in May and 269,000 in April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS’) latest employment report.
Both the unemployment rate, at 5.9%, and the number of unemployed persons, at 9.5 million, were little changed last month. These measures are down considerably from their highs in April 2020, but remain well above their levels prior to the COVID-19 pandemic—3.5% and 5.7 million, respectively.
“With the 850,000 nonfarm jobs added in June, approximately 70% of the jobs lost at the start of the pandemic have been recouped,” says Odeta Kushi, deputy chief economist at First American. “If monthly gains continue at the June pace, we could return to the pre-COVID employment peak by February 2022.”
Of the unemployed, the number of job leavers, or unemployed persons who quit or voluntarily left their previous job and began looking for new employment, increased by 164,000 to 942,000 last month. The number of persons on temporary layoff, at 1.8 million, was essentially unchanged over the month and is down considerably from the high of 18 million in April 2020. The number of permanent job losers, at 3.2 million, was also essentially unchanged over the month.
In June, the number of long-term unemployed—or those jobless for 27 weeks or more—increased by 233,000 to 4 million, following a decline of 431,000 in May. The number of persons jobless less than 5 weeks, at 2 million, changed little last month as well.
According to supplemental data from the BLS household survey, 14.4% of employed persons teleworked because of the coronavirus pandemic in June, down from 16.6% in the prior month. Roughly 6.2 million persons reported that they had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost business during the pandemic, down from 7.9 million in May. Of those who reported they had been unable to work due to the pandemic, 10% received at least some pay from their employer for the hours not worked.
Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, public and private education, professional and business services, retail trade, and other services.
“As expected, gains were concentrated in the service-providing segment, which added 642,000 jobs, and in the leisure and hospitality sector, with 343,000 jobs gained, both welcome signs for the segments of the economy hit hardest by the pandemic,” says Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae. “The retail trade (+67,000 jobs) and professional and business services (+72,000) sectors also posted strong gains in June.”
Construction employment changed little in June. Over-the-month job losses in nonresidential specialty trade contractors (-15,000) and heavy and civil engineering construction (-11,000) were partially offset by a gain in residential specialty trade contractors (+13,000).
“While residential building construction employment has steadily increased and even outpaced its pre-COVID level, overall construction employment is still 3.1% below its February 2020 level,” continues Kushi. “Attracting skilled labor remains a key priority for construction firms in months to come.”
