Due to the devastating effects of COVID-19, the nonfarm payroll fell by 701,000 in March and, the unemployment rate spiked up to 4.4%. It is the first decline in payroll since September 2010.
March saw the unemployment percentage increase by 0.9%, which is the highest over the month increase since January 1975. March also saw the number of unemployed people rise from 1.4 million to 7.1 million.
The unemployment rate, which rose to 4.4%, is the highest since August 2017. Its effects can be seen throughout several industries. The leisure and hospitality industry, professional and business services, social assistance industry, retail trade, and construction were some of the worst affected due to the ongoing pandemic.
Due to several layoffs across industries, unemployment claims spiked across the country. Several state unemployment offices could not take the increased pressure of applications, causing their servers to crash. The Federal government and state governments are trying their best to expand the unemployment insurance framework so that unemployed people receive benefits ASAP. To know more about filing for UI in the times of COVID-19 click here.
Here Are Some Key Takeaways About The Unemployment Report
Major Ups and Downs in March
459,000 job losses took place in the leisure and hospitality industry. Most of the job losses took place in the food and beverage vertical. The accommodation industry also saw a loss of 29,000 jobs in March.
The health care and social assistance industry also took a big hit due to the ongoing pandemic. Employment dropped by 61,000 in March, with dentists, physicians, and a lot of general health practitioners losing their jobs. This industry was doing reasonably well over the last year, adding 374,000 jobs, but COVID-19 changed things drastically.
19,000 jobs were lost in the social assistance vertical, with the largest amount of job losses taking place in child daycare services.
The professional and business services sector saw job losses of 52,000, with the temporary health services sector getting hit the hardest.
The retail trade sector saw 46,000 job losses. The sectors affected were clothing accessory stores, furniture stores, and music stores.
The construction industry saw a decrease of 29,000 jobs in March, with the nonresidential and civil engineering construction sector getting hit the most. The mining industry was also hit hard and saw job losses of 6,000
Not all hope was lost, as the Federal Government employment increased by 18,000, and general merchandising stores hired 10,000 people.
Establishment Survey Data
The average hourly earnings for private nonfarm payroll employees went up by 11% and currently stands at $28.62. There was a slight decrease in the average workweek for all private nonfarm payroll workers, and it dropped by 0.2 hours to 34.2 hours.
The hourly earnings for private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees spiked up by 10 cents to $24.07. Production and nonsupervisory employee’s average workweek decreased by 0.3 hours to 33.4 hours.
The number of jobless people who were out of work for more than 5 weeks, increased unemployment to 1.5 million. The labor force participation rate decreased by 0.7 percent in March and currently stands at 62.7%. A total of 109,000 discouraged workers believed that there were no jobs available for them in March.
Household Survey Data
| Workers Group | Unemployment Rate |
| Adult Men | 4 percent |
| Adult Women | 4 percent |
| Teenagers | 14.3 percent |
| White Population | 6.7 percent |
| Black Population | 4.1 percent |
| Asian Population | 6 percent |
| Hispanics | 6 percent |
There was an increase in unemployment for all workers groups in March, except for the black population, which saw a decline in the unemployment rate compared to February.
Conclusion
Clearly, COVID-19 has had a terrible impact on the job market. What’s yet to be seen is, how fast the American economy can rise to the challenge and conquer this problem. Back when the recession hit in 2008, it took a couple of years for the economy and job market to bounce back. Let’s hope things getter better, much faster this time around.