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The number of available jobs since May has outnumbered Americans looking for work. One factor is a mismatch between where people want to work and which industries are hiring.
The hardest-hit industries have yet to recover to prepandemic levels, when 63% of Americans were in the labor force. In July, there were 5.7 million fewer jobs, on a seasonally adjusted basis, than there were in February 2020, according to Labor Department data.
The number of people trying to get back into the workforce has rebounded since the early days of the pandemic. The share of adults working or looking for a job has increased slightly from a low of 60.2% in April of last year to 61.7% in July.
Leisure and hospitality sector
Change in weekly wages from June 2019
Leisure and
hospitality
workers
Leisure and hospitality
9.2
Change in weekly wages from June 2019
Leisure and
hospitality
workers
Leisure and hospitality
9.2
Change in weekly wages from June 2019
Leisure and
hospitality
workers
Leisure and hospitality
9.2
Leisure and hospitality workers have seen the highest hiring rates and a boost in weekly earnings as easing restrictions allowed restaurants to reopen and travel to resume. However, the rise in cases from the Delta variant could loom over the rebound.
Manufacturing
Change in weekly wages from June 2019
Change in weekly wages from June 2019
Change in weekly wages from June 2019
Hiring in manufacturing surged last year, and has outpaced overall hiring. While more Americans are making things, fewer Americans are selling goods in stores, with retail hiring lagging behind overall rates the past year.
Despite slower hiring in retail, weekly earnings for retail workers have outpaced overall wage growth.
Professional and business services
Change in weekly wages from June 2019
Professional and
business-service
workers
Professional and
business services
5.6
Change in weekly wages from June 2019
Professional and
business-service
workers
Professional and
business services
5.6
Change in weekly wages from June 2019
Professional and
business-services
workers
Professional and
business services
5.6
Private education, healthcare and office jobs have tracked the overall hiring and wage-growth rates seen during the pandemic. While schools, hospitals and offices have been affected by pandemic restrictions, remote work has grown in these fields—29% of professional services workers and 14% of private education and healthcare workers said they teleworked because of the pandemic in June.
The 10.1 million job openings in June is the highest level since record-keeping began in 2000, but a two-year average of monthly openings—which includes the drop in hirings in spring of 2020—shows a depressed rate, indicating that the current surge has yet to fully offset the halt in hiring seen last year.
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Write to Ana Rivas at [email protected]
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