The U.S. economy remains in an enormous jobs deficit—we were down 6.4 million jobs at the end of April (according to the JOLTS data), and down 19.6 million at the middle of May (according to the monthly employment data).
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epi.org/blog/the-u-s-e…
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epi.org/blog/the-u-s-e…
The JOLTS data showed that 6.4 million jobs were lost from the end of March to the end of April. The monthly jobs report straddle these numbers, showing that 20.7 million jobs were lost from mid-March to mid-April, and 2.5 million jobs were gained from mid-April to mid-May.
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Together, the JOLTS data and the monthly employment numbers paint a picture of the peak of job loss in this recession being in late March or early April, and people beginning to go back to work by the beginning of May.
epi.org/press/while-we…
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epi.org/press/while-we…
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No matter how you measure it, the U.S. economy remains in an enormous jobs deficit—we were down a total of 15.9 million jobs at the end of April (according to the JOLTS data), and down a total of 19.6 million at the middle of May (according to the monthly employment data).
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Hires are at the lowest on record. Before the coronavirus, there were typically around 5.9 million hires every month, as businesses started up or expanded. In April, that dropped to 3.5 million, a 40% drop from the pre-virus period, as business formation and growth cratered.
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In the pre-coronavirus period, there were typically around 1.8 million layoffs every month as a result of natural churn in the labor market. In April, there were 7.7 million layoffs, second only to March. This is nearly three times the worst month of the Great Recession.
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For all @EconomicPolicy's latest data and figures from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, see epi.org/indicators/jol…
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