Despite new State and local government lockdowns and restrictions, the economy has now recovered roughly 6 in 10 of pandemic job losses in just 7 months.
- During the survey reference period (November 12th), a total of 15 states had either tightening COVID-restrictions or had paused reopening.
- The economy added 245,000 total jobs in November with gains in October (+610,000) revised down and September (+711,000) revised up for a net upward revision of +11,000.
- This includes strong gains in transportation & warehousing (+145,000), professional & business services (+60,000), education & health services (+54,000), construction (+27,000), and manufacturing (+27,000).
- Since the April pandemic-low, the economy has added back 12.3 million jobs.
- Despite new lockdown measures imposed by State and local governments this Fall, as of November there were 4 million MORE Americans with a job than what the CBO in July estimated would occur at years-end.
- The economy has now recovered roughly 6 in 10 (56%) of pandemic job losses in just 7 months. It took Obama-Biden nearly 5 times as long (32 months) to recover the same share of jobs lost in the 2008-09 recession.
- A number of industries have had an even stronger recovery:
- The leisure & hospitality industry has now added back 4.9 million jobs, recovering 6 in 10 (58.5%) of pandemic job losses as of November.
- The retail trade industry has now added back 1.8 million jobs, recovering 8 in 10 (76.9%) of pandemic job losses as of November.
- The construction industry has now added back 0.8 million jobs, recovering 7 in 10 (74.2%) of pandemic job losses as of November.
- Private employment increased by more (+344,000) than overall employment (+245,000) as a result of government employment decreasing by -99,000.
- Government job losses in November were largely due to Census activities wrapping up (-93,028).
- Roughly two-thirds (66.8%) of jobs gains over the past 7 months occurred in relatively low-wage sectors including retail, leisure & hospitality, and education & health services.
The unemployment rate continued to decline in November, falling to 6.7% with notable declines in unemployment rates for Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans.
- The unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage point (p.p.) in November to 6.7%. Since the April peak of 14.7%, the unemployment rate has dropped by 8.0 p.p.
- The unemployment rate in November is lower than at any point in Obama-Biden’s first term. In fact, it took 50 months (more than four years) from the 2008-09 recession peak for the unemployment rate to fall to 6.7%.
- In June, the consensus among economic forecasters was that 2020 would end with an unemployment rate above 10%. The unemployment rate is already far below those projections.
- Declines in unemployment rates for minorities exceeded the decline in the overall rate in November: the African American unemployment rate decreased by 0.5 p.p., the Hispanic American rate fell by 0.4 p.p., and the Asian American rate fell by 0.9 p.p.
- As of November, the total number of unemployed has decreased by 12.3 million people (-54%) from the April unemployment peak.
- Black American employment has increased 1.9 million in the past 7 months. This represents the recovery of over 5 in 10 (54%) Black American jobs lost in the pandemic. It took Obama-Biden over 2 years (27 months) to recover the same share of Black American employment lost in the 2008-09 recession.
- Hispanic American employment has increased 4.1 million in the past 7 months. This represents the recovery of roughly 7 in 10 (69%) Hispanic American jobs lost in the pandemic. It took Obama-Biden nearly 2 years (23 months) to recover the same share of Hispanic American employment lost in the 2008-09 recession.
- Since April, the number of workers on temporary layoff has declined by 85% (15.3 million).
…and Nancy Pelosi is enjoying her premium ice cream in her gated mansion. All while hundreds of thousands of small businesses die off under lockdowns due to her adamant refusal to allow a PPP bill to go to the Senate that DOESN’T include the myriad of worthless garbage she insists on.
Instead she spends the last days of the lame duck session voting on legalizing drugs to keep the electorate in a drug induced stupor. Way to truly show what her priorities are. Truly the Grinch that stole Christmas for millions of small business owners and their employees. Boy are the bankruptcy courts going to be busy next year. All that’s missing is Nancy Pelosi holding a video zoom press conference to say “Let them eat cake” as she sips some wine from her family’s vineyard.
Let the holiday festivities begin…
Needless to say don’t expect serious political discussions with Democrats. “If it ain’t fun it ain’t done. ” They seem to think anything that isn’t entertaining is a hazard to the health.
Another industry that has enjoyed healthy gains is the gardening industry. After suffering an initial dip in revenue as they reconfigured their business models, garden centers did very well this year. More people stayed home, so they spent more time (and money) on gardens and landscaping. Some of the seed suppliers that I buy from had sold out of much of their inventory early in the season.
An economy that benefits from business-friendly government policies provides a solid foundation when anomalies, such as this pandemic, arise. Once Biden and Harris raise our taxes or begin over-regulating again, “well, there you go again” and we’re back to Obama/Biden malaise, which nearly put me out of business and bankrupted a bunch of my colleagues. This Covid come-back would not have happened during their administration.
Not surprising since the idiotic lockdowns were implemented simply to rid the country of the man most responsible for the robust economy. Let’s see how we trend in the next 4 years with the new exec-order job killing machine in office. Trying to fulfill the legacy of Mr “ these jobs ain’t comin back “ no magic wand Obama