The U.S. added 850,000 jobs in June, exceeding expectations as rising demand for a wide range of services disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic fueled the labor market, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department.
The unemployment rate ticked slightly higher to 5.9 percent, according to the report, but the monthly haul far exceeded the projections of economists, who expected the U.S. to gain roughly 700,000 jobs last month.
The labor force participation rate stayed roughly even at 61.6 percent, a sign that many Americans are still unable to return to the workforce. There were also 6.4 million Americans who did not seek a job in June — and therefore not counted as unemployed — but want to work, up from 5 million before the pandemic.
Even so, strong job gains in sectors hit hard by the pandemic and a sharp drop in the number of Americans working part-time when they’d prefer to work full time pointed toward an accelerating rebound from COVID-19.
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US economy adds 850,000 jobs in June, tops expectations https://t.co/aHtEpN0lMX pic.twitter.com/F31OezVBjT
— The Hill (@thehill) July 2, 2021
I wonder though if these are additional jobs or just people finally returning to work. And I don’t know about anywhere else, but in my neck of the woods, we have jobs going begging. Too many would rather stay on whatever extended benefits they received during the pandemic. Employers can’t seem to compete with being paid to stay at home.
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