WASHINGTON–The U.S. economy added 1.8 million jobs during July, reflecting a significant slowdown from June as many of the earlier reopenings of the economy have been reversed to a resurgence of the coronavirus.
The economy is still down approximately 12.9 million jobs since the onset of the pandemic, and the news comes as Americans, businesses and credit unions await some sort of relief package from Washington.
The numbers released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show unemployment declined to 10.2%. The U.S. had reported more than 4.8 million jobs had been added in June.
The number of people working part-time rose by 803,000 to 24 million in total in July. The government defines part-time work as anything under 35 hours per week.
"We added more jobs than most people expected, but the gains really were disproportionately part-time workers," Kate Bahn, economist and director of labor market policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, told CNN. "To me that means even if workers are coming back it's to jobs that pay less, and families will be worse off."
Among the positives in the data: The number of permanent job losses was more or less flat from June at 2.9 million. Had that number increased, it would have been a very negative sign for recovery.
"Granted still more than double from before the crisis, but we'll take the one-month reprieve," Daniel Zhao, senior economist at Glassdoor, told CNN.
Brian Turner, president and chief economist with Meridan Economics, observed the unemployment level, at its highest in decades, is expected to remain elevated as social distancing guidelines are kept in place while states fight a resurgence in COVID-19 cases.
Other Data Points
Turner also noted:
- The number of long-term unemployed (>27 weeks) increased 110,000 to 1.5 million people, or 9.2% of the unemployed.
- Approximately 61.4% of the civilian population made up the labor force and about 55.1% of the population was employed. The nation's underemployment rate (jobless, part-time desiring full-time and those deferring search over past 60 days) fell from 18.0% to 16.5%, or about 26.4 million people, Turner noted.
- Over the past year, private payrolls have decreased over 10.4 million people while average hourly earnings has increased by $1.34, or 4.8%. The number of unemployed workers has increased by six million.