By Tom Burnett CFA
On July 2, 2020, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported jobs data for the month of June. The report showed a gain of 4.8 million jobs, as the economy continues to recover from the Covid-19 outbreak and the measures used to counter it. The unemployment rate fell to 11.1% from 13.3% in the prior month. The number of unemployed workers declined from 21.0 million to 17.8 million. The 17.8 million, however, is still up 12.4 million from the February low. Employment now stands at 142.1 million, down from 157.2 million one year ago. At the bottom in May, employment had declined by 22 million from the year-earlier figure. Revisions to the data raised the employment figure by 90,000 for the two months of April and May. Manufacturing employment rose by 356,000 in June, but is still down by 757,000 from the February level. On balance, the Report suggests that the economy has seen the worst of the declines in employment that occurred in March and April.
Tom Burnett CFA is Director of Research