Civic Register
| 8.6.21

Economy Adds 943K Jobs in July, Unemployment Rate Drops to 5.4%
How do you feel about the state of the job market?
What’s the story?
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday released its jobs report for July 2021, which found the U.S. economy added 943,000 jobs and the unemployment rate declined by 0.5 percentage points to 5.4%. The report exceeds the Dow Jones forecast of 845,000 jobs and a 5.7% unemployment rate.
Jobs Report Sector Breakdown
- Leisure and hospitality employment increased by 380,000, two-thirds of which occurred in food services and drinking places (+253,000), followed by accommodation (+74,000) and arts, entertainment, and recreation (+53,000). Overall, employment in the sector is down by 1.7 million or 10.3% from its February 2020 level.
- Education saw an increase of 221,000 in local government education and 40,000 in private education. Staffing fluctuations during the pandemic have altered the typical seasonal patterns of layoffs and hiring, and with fewer layoffs at the end of the school year, it results in job gains after seasonal adjustment. Compared to February 2020, local government education employment is down 205,000 jobs while private education is down 207,000.
- Professional and business services added 60,000 jobs in July and much of that was focused in the professional and technical services component (+43,000). Across the sector, employment is down by 556,000 jobs relative to February 2020.
- Transportation and warehousing added 50,000 jobs in July, with the largest gains in transportation and ground passenger transportation (+19,000) and warehousing and storage (+11,000). The sector is 575,000 jobs below its February 2020 level.
- Healthcare added 37,000 jobs, with gains in ambulatory healthcare (+32,000) and hospitals (+18,000) offset by a loss of 13,000 jobs in nursing and residential care facilities. Employment in the sector is 502,000 jobs beneath its February 2020 level.
- Manufacturing added 27,000 jobs, mostly in durable goods including machinery (+7,000) and miscellaneous durable goods (+6,000). Employment in the sector is 433,000 jobs below its February 2020 level.
- Retail lost 6,000 jobs in July, with gains in gas stations (+14,000), miscellaneous store retailers (+7,000), and nonstore retailers (+5,000) more than offset by job losses at building material and garden supply stores (-34,000). The sector overall is down 270,000 jobs from its February 2020 level.
Long-Term Unemployment
- The number of Americans considered to be long-term unemployed (defined as jobless for 27 weeks or more) decreased by 560,000 in July to a total of 3.4 million.
- The number of long-term unemployed is 2.3 million higher than in February 2020. Long-term unemployed accounted for 39.3% of all unemployed in July.
Demographic Unemployment Information
- Unemployment rates declined for adult men (to 5.4% from 5.9% in June), adult women (5.0% from 5.5% in June), and teenagers (9.6% from 9.9% in June).
- Unemployment rates declined among Whites (4.8% from 5.2% in June), Blacks (to 8.2% from 9.2% in June), Hispanics (to 6.6% from 7.4% in June), and Asians (to 5.3% from 5.8% in June).
Revisions & Data Notes
- Employment in May was revised up by 31,000 from +583,000 to +614,000.
- Employment in June was revised up by 88,000 from +850,000 to +938,000.
- As it has since March 2020, the BLS published an estimate of what the unemployment rate would have been had misclassified workers been included. The misclassification hinges on a question about the main reason people were absent from their jobs, with people absent due to temporary, pandemic-related closures recorded as absent due to “other reasons” as opposed to unemployed due to temporary layoff.
- Using this approach, the July unemployment rate would have been 0.3 percentage points higher than reported. The BLS notes that this represents the upper bound of their estimate of misclassification and probably overstates the size of the misclassification error.
- According to usual practice at the BLS, data is accepted as recorded in the household survey. To maintain data integrity, no ad hoc actions are taken to reclassify survey responses.
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: iStock.com / lechatnoir)
The Latest
-
Lunchables Will Soon Be Sold in School CafeteriasWhat’s the story? Lunchables will be sold in school cafeterias starting this fall as the product is updated to comply with read more... Families
-
IT: 🚨 Trump expects to be arrested today, and... Do you think COVID originated in a raccoon dog?Welcome to Tuesday, March 21st, pillows and fuzzy blankets... Former President Donald Trump expects to be arrested today. Trump read more...
-
Wyoming Bans Abortion Pill, Texas Judge Considers Nationwide BanWyoming's decision The abortion pill, mifepristone, has been banned in Wyoming days before Texas judge Matthew Kacsmaryk is set read more... States
-
Abortion Pill TrackerTake Action On Abortion Pills Causes.com is your source for up-to-date information about abortion pills and efforts to ban or read more... Federal Agencies
What government doesn’t understand is it’s not that people don’t want to work. It’s people don’t want to catch this disease and die! With people not wanting to get vaccinated like myself the pandemic isn’t going to END!
It is WAY PAST time that workers had some leverage to counter the stagnation of wages over the last 50 years (in the face of huge productivity gains) and continuously rising costs of living. AND childcare, paid leave and universal medical care are necessary infrastructure to keep the economy ( and our society) thriving.
Economy will continue to improve if more get vaccinated, wear masks and socially distance. Places that require these measures are the only ones I want to do business with!
I am confused as to why there are so many job openings that cannot be filled. No one seems to work in service jobs anymore. We have so many openings but I guess the people who used to work these jobs figure it is better to just collect straight unemployment than to work. I realize these are not the best paying jobs but if you are not working some other better paying job, I would settle for any job at this point. Guess I would be one that would rather work than sit around and twiddle my thumbs.
I do not care.
If you are able-bodied and unemployed, get back to work. There are help wanted signs everywhere and the economy needs you. No more unemployment insurance payments so you can sit this one out.
Much of this is seasonal with the reopening and lets not kid ourselves, these aren't new jobs but mostly people returning to work. Biden hasn't created any jobs but has caused job losses (see oil and gas industry) and inflated our fuel prices. If I thought illegit Joe could read beyond a sentence on the teleprompter I might also think he was consulting a book by Jimmy Carter on how to implode what was once a growing economy.
Its all B/S got a JOB
It all depends on where you live.
We are headed for another national shutdown because Comrade dear leader Beijing Biden leaves the border wide open with thousands of illegal aliens crossing daily with no quarantine or testing just catch and release withe the new delta virus virus running rampant. Here are figures since January 20th at noontime to present 201 days. Cases 11,695,859 new cases yesterday 138,786. Deaths 352,520 new deaths yesterday 438. President Trump had with one full year of the epidemic with no vaccines until 38 days before leaving office Cases 24,717,808 Deaths 274,761.
In my opinion ending the benefits check encouraged people to return to work. There are many many businesses hiring, if you want a job you can get one. :)
Pay people what they are worth!!
The Biden Admin is FAILING and neither side of USA Politics is showing nearly enough concern for the USA. It is just plain disgusting. Has Everyone forgotten World War II? And why it was so Important? People died for what you are doing in Congress these days? Sickening, just plain Sickening!!!!
There are jobs everywhere. From places like McD's to some very well paying factory jobs. Everyone needs to get back to work. That'll help keep prices down.
I believe these numbers are misleading. Much of this so-called recovery is due to many people going back to their previous jobs making more than what government unemployment was paying. Once these jobs are fully counted the real effect of unemployment benefits will be fully felt. You can only find this reporting on a handful of sources and none of it in the mainstream sources. Unemployment benefits and the coming increase in inflation vis-a-vis the massive spending Bills, will doom whatever recovery everyone is so now giddy about.
again, these are slave wage jobs. They keep people in poverty, and the tax payer subsidizes the corporation so they can keep wages low. This is not new, its been getting worse however. Capitalism's stick and carrot game is on full display, and the carrot is smaller and the stick is bigger. Choosing between a poverty wage, and homelessness, is not freedom, its coercion. We need housing and healthcare, free collage and an end to endless wars. We need living wages, not more toil work.
Republicans are so greedy that they'd steal the watch from their father's casket. They want to keep middle class Americans uneducated and poor. That small subsidy helped millions of people stay afloat a little longer. Remember Jan 5th and 16th. They tried to overthrow the government and put a dictator in charge.
To all those who claimed that ending unemployment benefits early is driving the jobs increase, can you not read? "employment fell 0.9% in states that cut benefits between mid-June and mid-July--but rose 2.3% in states that kept them." Just more conservatives ignoring facts, I guess.
This is a good thing as long as inflation does not start spiraling. It provides lots of opportunity for people to improve their lot. Hopefully, the Fed will not misstep or fall asleep at the wheel. I lived through a 15.4% mortgage and 17.5% auto loan in the 80s and have no desire to return to that ever again.
I don't think people are back to where they were pre-pandemic. They're still hurting, behind in finances and uncertain about their futures. Here in Utah, the State is not doing nearly enough to help out.