Washington: The US economy added just 1.8 million jobs in July, far fewer than in May and June but not as bad as some economists feared, according to government data released on Friday.
As COVID-19 cases spiked in several states in recent weeks, new restrictions to contain the virus forced some businesses to shut their doors again, while many have already closed permanently, raising concerns the labor market could take a turn for the worse.
The unemployment rate fell to 10.2 percent from 11.1 percent in June, still slightly worse than the depth of the global financial crisis in October 2009.
However, the Labor Department said some workers continue to be misclassified in the survey. Without that, the jobless rate would have been a full point higher than reported.
The July employment gain marked a sharp slowdown from the increases of 4.8 million in June and 2.7 million in May, and means less than half the 22 million payroll jobs lost during the pandemic have been regained.
"This is far from normal, as another 13 million jobs are needed just to get us back to pre-pandemic employment levels," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, who noted virus cases are rising faster in states that reopened, "Illustrating the tough tradeoffs in the decision between livelihood versus lives."
The largest jobs gains were reported in leisure and hospitality and retail, the sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus shutdowns, the report said. Government and healthcare also saw strong hiring.
"Recovery in jobs to pre-pandemic levels will likely be slow and prolonged, one that will restrain the pace of recovery," Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics said in an analysis of the data. The number of people on temporary layoff in July decreased by 1.3 million, but there were nearly three million workers who lost their jobs permanently, according to the latest data.
Meanwhile, 8.4 million people were working part-time not by choice but out of necessity, a group known as involuntary part-time workers.
And the jobless rate for Black workers remains far higher than the national rate at 14.6 percent, compared to 9.2 percent for white workers.