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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