‘WORK’ STOPPAGE
December new-job data down amid COVID surge
Job creation came to a screeching halt in December as COVID-19 cases surged and governments cracked down yet again on bars, restaurants and other businesses.
The US economy shed 140,000 jobs last month — the first decline since April as a deadly surge in coronavirus infections sparked a new wave of lockdown measures, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.
The closely watched jobs report was the most grim since unemployment soared to a record 14.7 percent eight months ago as the pandemic began to rattle America.
The unemployment rate remained steady at 6.7 percent. But economists had been expecting at least an addition of 77,000 jobs, which would have been less than a quarter of November’s revised total of 336,000.
“Payrolls are still 9.8 million short of pre-crisis levels, leaving us in a deep economic hole, and current numbers show we’re digging ourselves deeper into the hole,” Glassdoor senior economist Daniel Zhao said. “Today’s report is a harsh reminder that the pandemic controls our economic trajectory.”
The losses came as several states imposed new restrictions to curb a record-setting spike in coronavirus cases, such as mask mandates, bans on indoor dining and limits on public and private gatherings. Vaccines could help the economy return to normal once they’re distributed across the country. But in the meantime, millions of Americans are relying on unemployment benefits and hundreds of thousands are seeking jobless aid every week.
The leisure and hospitality industries bore the brunt of December’s pain just as they did last spring. Restaurants and bars lost 372,000 jobs, hotels shed 24,000 and amusement, gambling and recreation businesses dropped 92,000, federal data show.
There were also sizable gains in industries that have been resilient to the pandemic — professional and business services, retail, construction and transportation and warehousing added 380,000 jobs combined. The report “points to a lot of local pain for particular sectors and particular workers,” Curt Long, chief economist and vice president of research at the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions said. “But I think the overall economic engine is still in decent shape.”
There are also signs of a “hyper-concentration of demand” for workers in industries that are faring well, according to Becky Frankiewicz, president of ManpowerGroup North America. The staffing firm’s data show that just 20 roles — including tractor-trailer drivers, registered nurses and software developers — accounted for more than half of the 10 million jobs open as of late December.
The $900 billion stimulus package Congress recently passed could take some pressure off the economy as COVID-19 continues to kill thousands of Americans a day. The bill President Trump signed last week will send a $600 check to millions of eligible taxpayers and give jobless workers an extra $300 in weekly unemployment benefits.