Nonfarm payrolls increased by 4.8 million in June and the unemployment rate fell to 11.1% as the United States continued to reopen the coronavirus pandemic, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected an increase of 2.9 million and an unemployment rate of 12.4%. The report was released a day earlier than usual due to the July 4 American holiday.
The numbers capture movement across the 50 states to get activity moving again after the virus took over much of the U.S., particularly service-related industries.
However, because the government survey comes from the middle of the month, it does not take into account suspension or reversals in regions affected by a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
Leisure and hospitality again represented the biggest jump, as the sector registered a profit of 2.1 million, which represents approximately 40% of total growth.
Another major contributor to the decline in the unemployment rate was a drop in those on temporary layoffs. That total fell from 4.8 million in June to 10.6 million after a decrease of 2.7 million in May. The level of short-term unemployment fell from 1 million to 2.8 million.
The level of labor force participation increased sharply, increasing to 61.5%, bringing it 1.9 percentage points below its February level, a month before the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the economy. U.S.
Jobs were equally balanced at 2.4 million each for full-time and part-time workers.
The overall unemployment rate was underestimated at a glance due to counting errors at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers who still have a job but have not been working are counted as employees and although they are supposed to be considered unemployed under BLS standards.
However, the BLS said the discrepancy “decreased significantly” in June, making the real unemployment rate only about 1 percentage point higher than the reported level.
An alternative measure of unemployment that includes discouraged and underemployed workers fell to 18% from 21.2%.
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