By Tom Burnett CFA
On November 6, 2020, the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued another upbeat report on the employment status of the U.S. economy. The total jobs number rose by 638,000 from the prior month. October is the sixth consecutive month to report an increase in the overall employment number. The unemployment rate declined to 6.9% from 7.9% in September. The latest rate figure is a sharp decrease from the double digit rates in May and June.
Total employment now stands at 149.8 million, compared to 158.5 million one year ago. Employment now totals some 10.1 million lower than it was in February before the negative impact of the COVID-19 was felt. At the bottom, more than 26 million jobs had been lost, some 60% of which have now been recovered. The Report also noted that the August and September job figures have now been revised upward by a total of 15,000. Manufacturing jobs rose by 38,000 in October, but are still down by 621,000 from the February total.
There are still 11.1 million unemployed workers looking for jobs, compared to just 5.8 million a year ago. Importantly, the 11.1 million figure is down from 12.6 million in September.
The next BLS report will be issued on December 4, 2020.
Tom Burnett CFA is Director of Research