Since the COVID Event started, The US has had over 46M unemployment claims and lost 12.9 million jobs.
The good news is that in the last two months over 7.3M people have returned to work. The bad news is we have 12.9M more to go. In June we had 5.8M Unemployment claims and added 4.8M jobs back. Regardless, lets exam where some of these job gains and losses are occurring.
Below are the industry categories that have seen the largest job gains since February:
| Industry Category | Jobs Gains Since February |
| General merchandise stores, including warehouse clubs and supercenters | 208,000 |
| Building material and garden supply stores | 144,000 |
| Services to buildings and dwellings | 142,000 |
| Construction | 83,000 |
| Food and beverage stores | 78,000 |
| Heavy and civil engineering construction | 73,000 |
| Couriers and messengers | 57,000 |
| Federal | 54,000 |
| General merchandise stores | 46,000 |
| Residential specialty trade contractors | 41,000 |
| Specialty trade contractors | 39,000 |
| U.S. Postal Service | 28,000 |
Below are the industries that still experienced the largest job Gains between May and June:
| Industry Category | Jobs Gains from May –> June |
| Accommodation and food services | 2,033,000 |
| Food services and drinking places | 1,654,000 |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 963,000 |
| Retail trade | 778,000 |
| Arts, entertainment, and recreation | 545,000 |
| Amusements, gambling, and recreation | 532,000 |
| Manufacturing | 492,000 |
| Professional and business services | 452,000 |
Below are the biggest job loss categories from the Department of Labor. The list is mainly the same categories as it was for May except the numbers are different. This covers February through June:
| Industry Category | Jobs Losses Since February |
| Local government | -1,241,000 |
| Educational services | -765,000 |
| State government | -696,000 |
| Accommodation | -589,000 |
| Temporary help services | -565,000 |
| Clothing and clothing accessories stores | -509,000 |
| Personal and laundry services | -383,000 |
| Amusements, gambling, and recreation | -295,000 |
| Child day care services | -281,000 |
| Motion picture and sound recording industries | -225,000 |
| Transit and ground passenger transportation | -213,000 |
| Accounting and bookkeeping services | -195,000 |
| Individual and family services | -194,000 |
| Performing arts and spectator sports | -187,000 |
| Motor vehicle and parts dealers | -186,000 |
| Nursing and residential care facilities | -173,000 |
| Department stores | -167,000 |
| Membership associations and organizations | -160,000 |
| Transportation equipment | -152,000 |
| Offices of physicians | -148,000 |
Below are the industries that still experienced the largest job losses between May and June:
| Industry Category | Jobs Losses from May –> June |
| State government | -250,000 |
| Educational services | -156,000 |
| Local government | -107,000 |
| Transit and ground passenger transportation | -39,000 |
| Nursing care facilities | -27,000 |
| Nursing and residential care facilities | -23,000 |
| Computer systems design and related services | -12,000 |
| Support activities for mining | -12,000 |
| Rail transportation | -7,000 |
Some observations:
- Unemployment in IT and Software is at 4.3%. While higher than the 1.3% – 1.6% it has been over the last 24 months, this is still an OK number. The 3.7% unemployment rate in May is clearly better.
- In May, the unemployment rate for the IT and Software market was the lowest of any market segment the BLS reports on. In June, Legal had the lowest rate at 4.1%
- Food Prep and Service has the highest unemployment rate of any market – 28.6. This category also held that distinction for may when it was 36.5%.
- There are 547,000 more people working in IT and software in June 2020 than in June 2019 (5,990,000 vs 5,433,000)
- Dental Offices had a great bounce back in June. Over 20% of all the dental jobs returned back to work in June.
- Transit and ground passenger transportation brought back 15,000 in May, then lost 39,000 in June. This is the biggest swing in the wrong direction.
- Local government lost 110,000 in May and brought back 166,000 in June. This is the biggest swing in the right direction.
- Four out of Five job categories with an unemployment rate under 5% require STEM training.
All the data in this article comes from the Department of Labor.
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