U.S. Added 850,000 Jobs in June - WSJ
By: Josh Mitchell (WSJ)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Updated July 2, 2021 8:34 am ET
The U.S. added 850,000 jobs in June and the jobless rate was 5.9%, the Labor Department said Friday, as the labor market heated up after a spring lull.
Job growth fell short of expectations earlier this spring, despite a high level of job openings. Recent weeks may have brought a shift toward stronger job growth.
More workers have received a Covid-19 vaccine; enhanced jobless benefits in many states have ended or will by early September; rules limiting capacity at businesses during the pandemic have eased or expired; and companies have been raising wages and offering signing bonuses to lure workers back. In one healthy sign, the number of workers applying for unemployment benefits—a proxy for layoffs—fell last week by 51,000 to 364,000, a pandemic low, the Labor Department said Thursday.
While the labor market has significantly recovered since the depths of the pandemic, it remained more than seven million jobs short of where it stood just ahead of the pandemic. The unemployment rate in February 2020 was 3.5%. But it has fallen from the April 2020 level of 14.8%, a post-World War II high.
"The floodgates have opened for events and food service and they didn't open with regards to getting staff back," said David Lombardo, general manager of Lombardo's, a venue that hosts events in an ornate hall in Randolph, Mass., south of Boston. After the pandemic hit the economy in March 2020 and forced the hospitality industry to shut down, the company laid off 140 of its 148 employees—servers, cooks, hosts and planners.
With pandemic restrictions lifted this spring and vaccination rates rising, the venue has fielded a stream of requests to host weddings, proms, bar mitzvahs, quinceaneras and other events. The company has hired back 40 people this year and is looking to hire 20 more. Lombardo's isn't alone: The broader leisure and hospitality sector, among the hardest hit by the pandemic, is now one of the sectors that could lead job growth later this year and next, given Americans' desire to resume vacations, concerts, restaurant outings and other activities.
"We've started to see, in the last week or two, a surge in applicants coming to our door," Mr. Lombardo said. He thinks one reason is the looming expiration in early September of a government program that has provided jobless workers with $300 a week on top of standard state unemployment compensation.
Another factor: The company has raised wages 15% to 20% this year, part of a broader trend across the U.S. Wage growth has accelerated in recent months as companies compete over a limited pool of applicants. In that respect, the labor market is likely hotter than the unemployment rate suggests.
Sung Won Sohn, an economist at Western Alliance Bancorporation, said demand is rising as consumers, flush with cash from wage growth and government aid programs, are boosting spending on services they put off last year. But supply—mainly, workers—isn't keeping up.
"Employment gains would be much greater if not for labor shortages," Mr. Sohn said. He thinks those shortages will persist beyond this summer, and perhaps in the medium- and long-term. Mr. Sohn thinks it could take another year or so for the labor market to fully recover from the pandemic.
Labor-force participation, or the share of adults working or looking for work, was 61.6% in May, nearly 2% below its pre-pandemic level.
Many older workers who fell out of the labor force last year are opting to retire rather than return to their old jobs.
Other workers, with new leverage in a tighter labor market, are demanding not just higher wages but also more worker-friendly conditions, such as the ability to work from home more often, or in cities outside their companies' home bases. He thinks those factors are already pushing up wages and will persist in the long run—which, while beneficial for many individual workers, could ultimately restrain economic growth. "One of the biggest issues the economy will face is the churning and turmoil in the labor market," Mr. Sohn said.
The Federal Reserve is monitoring wage growth, the jobless rate and other data as the central bank tries to determine when and how quickly to pull back its efforts to stimulate the economy. Friday's report could influence how quickly it moves.
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Still 7 million jobs short.
Still better than every other modern post pandemic economy.
Lol!
It being such an extensive category/s.
Number one and still complaining? Yikes, not a good look to carry around sour milk in a leaky bucket.
Btw happy Canada Day.
To all the good people at Woodbine.
My concerns are with school yard graves at the moment.
Woodbine is Canada's major horse racing track ... I do not think that Vic was referring to the rider who died there yesterday.
That looks like the boot of a Royal Mounted Canadian Police
Those are brown and have laces. The ones in the pic look like the Royal Canadian Mounted Fashionistas.
It's a jockey on a racehorse.
Thus the reference to Woodbine.
A good number of Canadians are not celebrating Canada Day, thanks to the Catholic Church.
Well wrong again today.
Thank God for Google, huh?
I do not think that Vic was referring to the rider who died there yesterday.
Maybe Vic was referring to female Canadian rider Emma-Jayne Wilson.
Woodbine is as well known in Canada as Pimlico is in the US. Google and God were of not needed.
As to Emma and her boot with an orange band, you left out the best part (no surprise):
"We want to show our love & support for our First Nations~ to show our awareness of & our commitment to reflecting on & teaching historical accuracy as it relates to our country's heritage We want to show we’re committed to the pursuit of truth and reconciliation."
Kudos to Emma.
But you didn't seem to know and you told me you live in Canada. Did you ever read the book written by Gary Stephen Ross about the gambling spree of Brian Molony? Now there was a horse player who loved Woodbine! Unfortunately he was also one of the chief lending officers at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. I do believe the bank may have been able to recover some $4,732,000 that Molony lost at Caesars in Vegas. I think I'll feature that book on the Book club. It is one I couldn't put down. Very entertaining! I'll do the review.
As to Emma and her boot with an orange band, you left out the best part (no surprise):
"We want to show our love & support for our First Nations~ to show our awareness of & our commitment to reflecting on & teaching historical accuracy as it relates to our country's heritage We want to show we’re committed to the pursuit of truth and reconciliation."
That's why I said "Thank God for Google." I knew you would. Now you know.
Good morning,
What I did not know was where the pic came from as an image search brought up nothing. Your second clue, Emma-Jayne Wilson, undid the ribbon.
The extent of my horse sense is all about hats and if I watch any races it will be the Royal Ascot or the Epsom Derby.
The book on Molony came out the year my daughter was born and for the next 5 years my reading list was devoted to her. I have a fuzzy recollection of Philip Seymour Hoffman playing Molony in a film. Will I read the book now? Probably not as I am only up to the D authors in the 3rd reread of my library ... the pandemic has been a boon for that pleasurable task.
True but as long as the Trump economic rules remain largely intact, this recovery will continue.
Have you seen the latest Trafalgar Poll on inflation?
"Thirty-nine percent of Americans hold President Joe Biden more responsible for rising inflation.
The poll, conducted June 3-7, surveyed 1,075 people. The margin of error is 2.9 percentage points.
It came as American consumers absorbed another surge in prices in May — a 0.6% increase over April and 5% over the past year, the biggest 12-month inflation spike since 2008."
I have seen that. All the more reason to stop all further stimulus spending and prevent any tax increases. Gridlock is the key to continued economic growth.