By Tom Burnett CFA On September 4, 2020, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 1.37 million new jobs in August. In addition, the report indicated that the unemployment rate declined to 8.4% from 10.2% in July and 11.1% in June. The rate in February was just 3.5% before the impact from the Covid-19 outbreak was felt. Total employment now stands at 147.2 million, down from 158.7 million in February. The figure from August 2019 was 157.2 million.
The number of unemployed workers fell to 13.6 million from 16.4 million in the prior month. In February, the unemployed number was only 5.8 million. The report shows that the job market is improving, but remains noticeably weaker than it was at the beginning of the 2020 year.
The next report will be issued on October 2, 2020.
Tom Burnett CFA is Director of Research