The United States economy added 1.8 million jobs in July 2020, and the unemployment rate fell to 10.2%, this is according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report released on Friday.
These improvements in the labor market reflected the continued resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to contain it. In July, notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, government, retail trade, professional and business services, other services, and health care.
The job numbers exceeded the 1.5 million additions expected by economists according to Bloomberg survey. However, the 1.8 million jobs added in July represents a sharp decline from the record 4.8 million jobs added in June.
The 10.2% unemployment rate is lower than the 10.6% expected by economists. It was also down from 11.1% reported in May. The country in April’s 14.7% recorded the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
In July, the number of unemployed persons in the U.S fell by 1.4 million to 16.3 million according to BLS report. Despite declines over the past 3 months, these measures are up by 6.7 % and 10.6 million, respectively, since February.
The number of unemployed persons who were on temporary layoff decreased by 1.3 million in July to 9.2 million, about half its April level.
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In July, the number of permanent job losers and the number of unemployed re-entrants to the labor force were virtually unchanged over the month, at 2.9 million and 2.4 million, respectively.
The U.S economy has added jobs for the third straight month as the nation attempts to reopen and recover from the devastating effect of Covid-19 pandemic.
Written by;
Ifunanya Ikueze
