The March 2021 Jobs Report: What is the Current US Employment Situation?

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their monthly overview of the US employment situation and the data for March has improved since February as economic activity suppressed by the pandemic continues to resume. The labor department jobs report examines a range of US jobs data to gauge the overall health of the US economy, specifically the number of jobs added, the unemployment rate, and what industries are hiring now.

The March jobs report shows slight improvement in the labor market. Unemployment decreased to 6.0% and total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 916,000, while the number of unemployed persons decreased slightly to 9.7 million (compared to 5.8 million in February 2020).

Here are some other key statistics from the labor department jobs report:

• 21.0% percent of employed persons teleworked specifically due to the coronavirus pandemic. That’s a decrease from 22.7% in February.
• 11.4 million people were unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic. This number has decreased by 1.9 million since February.
• 3.7 million people who were not in the labor force in March were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic. This number has decreased from 4.2 million in February.

March brought job gains across the board. Sectors like Leisure & Hospitality and Education saw significant gains as restaurants and schools reopened in many parts of the country. Here’s how industries were impacted in March:

Overall, the labor department jobs report suggests that the economy is showing slight improvement as the vaccination efforts are underway and states are resuming economic activity across the country.

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