Employment Blog April 2020

This report is taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U S Department of Labor.  Nonfarm payroll employment declined by 701,000 in March, and the unemployment rate increased to 4.4 percent, reflecting the broad impact on the job market of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and efforts to contain the illness. Employment fell by 459,000 in the leisure and hospitality industry, mainly in food services and drinking places. Notable employment decreases also occurred in health care and social assistance, professional and business services, retail trade, and construction. It is important to keep in mind that the March survey reference periods for the establishment and household surveys (the pay period or week, respectively, that includes the 12th of the month) predated many business and school closures that occurred in the second half of the month. In addition, data collection for the two surveys was affected by the coronavirus. Although response rates for both surveys were adversely affected by pandemic-related issues, we still were able to obtain estimates from our two surveys that met BLS standards for accuracy and reliability. Incorporating revisions for January and February, which decreased payroll employment by 57,000 on net, job gains averaged 245,000 in the first 2 months of 2020 before the substantial coronavirus-related decline in March. Please see Charts 1 and 2 below.

Within the leisure and hospitality industry, employment fell by 417,000 in food services and drinking places in March, as many restaurants and bars cut back operations. This employment decline nearly offset the gains over the prior 2 years. Elsewhere in leisure and hospitality, the accommodation industry lost 29,000 jobs in March.

Employment declined by 61,000 in health care and social assistance in March. Health care employment declined by 43,000, with losses occurring in offices of dentists (-17,000), offices of physicians (-12,000), and offices of other health practitioners (-7,000). From February 2019 to February 2020, health care added jobs each month, with an average monthly gain of 31,000. Employment in social assistance decreased by 19,000 in March, reflecting a job loss in child day care services (-19,000).

Professional and business services lost 52,000 jobs in March, with the decline concentrated in temporary help services (-50,000). Employment also declined in travel arrangement and reservation services (-7,000).

 Employment in retail trade decreased by 46,000 over the month, with job losses occurring in clothing stores (-16,000); furniture stores (-10,000); and sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores (-9,000).

By contrast, employment increased in general merchandise stores (+10,000). After an average monthly employment increase of 40,000 in January and February, construction employment declined by 29,000 in March. Job losses occurred in nonresidential building (-11,000) and in heavy and civil engineering construction (-10,000). Employment in the other services industry declined by 24,000 in March, with about half of the loss occurring in personal and laundry services (-13,000). Over the prior 12 months, other services had added 89,000 jobs.

Mining employment decreased by 6,000 in March, mostly in support activities for mining. Since a peak in January 2019, mining has lost 42,000 jobs.

Manufacturing employment edged down in March (-18,000). Over the past year, manufacturing employment has changed little on net.

Federal government employment rose by 18,000 in March. The gain largely reflects the hiring of 17,000 temporary workers for the 2020 Census.

Employment in other major industries–including wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and financial activities–showed little change in March.

Turning to the labor market indicators from the household survey, the unemployment rate increased by 0.9 percentage point to 4.4 percent in March, and the number of unemployed people increased by 1.4 million to 7.1 million. The increase in the unemployment rate was the largest single-month change since January 1975, when it also increased by 0.9 percentage point.

Summarizing the labor market developments in March, nonfarm payroll employment declined by 701,000, and the unemployment rate increased to 4.4 percent, broadly reflecting some of the early effects on the job market of the coronavirus and efforts to contain it.