October Employment Outlook

Thankfully, the employment market is showing signs of recovery. We’ve seen a steady drop in the unemployment rate since the April peak, and workers across a number of different industries - including hospitality and leisure, which was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic - have been going back to work. It is important to note, however, that the job growth in September was smaller than gains in the previous four months.

In an environment where things are changing quickly, staying on top of the current employment is absolutely crucial. The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics’ news release on Friday, October 2nd, gives us extra insight into what’s going on across the country. Check out a few of our key takeaways from the report or keep scrolling for a highlight infographic with some of the most important numbers.

1. Unemployment numbers are trending towards economic recovery. Both the unemployment rate and the overall number of unemployed persons have trended down over the past 5 months. While still higher than they were in February before the pandemic began its widespread impact, the overall trend is encouraging both for individuals who have been searching for jobs and businesses looking to return to normal.

2. Temporary layoffs are decreasing, but that may not tell the whole story. In the month of September, the number of people on temporary layoff decreased by 1.5 million. This may point to the same economic recovery as our previous point, but it doesn’t quite tell the whole story. While those temporary layoff numbers have decreased, the number of permanent job losers increased by 345,000 and the number of individuals who quit or voluntarily left their jobs rose by 212,000. It is possible that the increases in those categories offset some of the decreases in individuals on a temporary layoff.

3. Workers are still feeling the impact of the pandemic. While employment numbers are trending upward, there are still nearly 20 million people (19.4 million, to be exact) who reported being unable to work or reported working fewer hours because of the pandemic. While this has decreased from 24.2 million in August, it still represents a large chunk of American workers who are struggling as a result of their employers’ closing or losing business due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

4. The retail and leisure & hospitality industries are leading job growth. Of the 661,000 new jobs in September, 318,000 were in leisure and hospitality and another 142,000 were in retail. While neither has returned to pre-COVID numbers, these two industries comprise a large share of the jobs added in the past month. Leading the charge was employment in food services and drinking places (part the leisure & hospitality industry), which added 200,000 positions on its own.

Check out the infographic below for more of the data: