Employment The chart below presents the magnitude of the drop in employment that occurred in 2020 due to COVID-19 and the subsequent recovery. The drop in employment was much greater than what occurred during the financial crisis. Prior to the financial crisis, nonfarm employment peaked at 138.4 million in January 2008 before bottoming out at 129.7 million in February 2010. The decline in jobs lasted slightly over two years with a loss of approximately 8.7 million jobs. Following the financial crisis, employment grew steadily and consistently from 129.7 million in February 2010 to 152.5 million in February 2020. The employment growth lasted 10 years with approximately 22.8 million jobs added to the economy. During the financial crisis, employment bottomed out at 129.7 million. The onslaught of COVID-19 caused employment to drop to almost the same level in early 2020. The difference between the two downturns was the speed and magnitude of the declines. During the financial crisis, 8.7 million jobs were lost over two years. During COVID-19, 22.3 million jobs were lost over two months . Prior to the effects of COVID-19 on the economy, employment peaked at 152.5 million in February 2020. Two months later, employment dropped to 130.2 million. By April 2020 employment had declined by approximately 22.3 million. Employment gradually recovered beginning in May 2020, reaching 144 million in March 2021. Despite the increase of approximately 14 million jobs since April 2020, the March 2021 employment was still over 8 million fewer jobs than the employment peak in February 2020. The chart below shows the roller coaster for employment from January 2020 through March 2021.
All Employees, nonfarm Payrolls (seasonally adjusted) Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
2
Center for Business and Economic Insight
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog