While it seems good news can be hard to come by nowadays, one bright spot as far as the nation's economy goes is that June saw a decrease in unemployment and an acceleration in terms of overall job growth. With restaurants, bars, and personal care services opening back up in many parts of the nation, the US managed to create jobs in record fashion.
According to the US Labor Department, nonfarm related jobs were up by almost five million during June. This figure represents the biggest jump in a single month since the country started recording such statistics back in the 1930s. And in May, payrolls saw a near 2.7 million rebound. The news gets even better as leading economists also forecasted payrolls to increase by another 3 million during June.
These job numbers also join other promising figures for June. Consumer spending for instance has also shown something of a spike in terms of dollars spent. That said, with the reopenings well underway, officials urge cautious optimism, especially as the number of cases does continue to grow as seen in places like Florida and California.
To this end, some states have pressed pause on reopening. Late June saw workers in several regions once again being laid off or being told to work strictly from home. We have yet to see what type of economic impact this has had.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell though remains hopeful. Just this week he explained that the rebounds we are seeing are happening sooner than predicted. Still maintaining of course that there is always a level of uncertainty associated and continued improvement would be dependent upon being able to contain the current situation.
As far as the actual unemployment rate…It fell to just over eleven percent. In May that number stood at 13.4%. Again, this is largely attributed to the fact that non-essential workers are now once again being rehired with restaurants, bars, salons, and medical offices all reopening in most places across the country now.
The other reason for job gains cites some experts, is the Paycheck Protection Program. This enabled many small businesses to bring their employees back. Those funds however are on the verge of drying up. If the funds do dry up, there could be another surge of layoffs, unfortunately. The key of course is to keep things moving forward but with caution so as not to have major recurrences of the virus which would send the nation in a backward spin.
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