Economy Gains 943,000 Jobs in July; Unemployment Down to 5.4%

The U.S. economy gained 943,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate declined to 5.4%, according to figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In response to the July job numbers, AFL-CIO Chief Economist William Spriggs tweeted:

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) decreased by 560,000 in July to 3.4 million but is 2.3 million higher than in February 2020. Labor Day will be a challenge, that number won’t be cleared and extended benefits will still be needed. @AFLCIO

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) August 6, 2021

The press refuses to cover workers. The numbers tell a different story of the labor market than the corporate dominated flood of jobs openings. The
number of discouraged workers, was 507,000 in July, down from the previous month but 106,000 higher
than in February 2020. @AFLCIO

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) August 6, 2021

Not in the labor force is the bigger problem. That problem won’t go away until many of the governors who complain the most about worker shortages get their states’ COVID caseloads under control. Many job postings are for part-time jobs. UI is to support full-time workers. @AFLCIO

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) August 6, 2021

In July, unemployment rate fell for all educational attainment groups. Though the Black unemployment rate fell because of people dropping out of the labor force, the Black unemployment rate at 8.2% was less than the unemployment rate for High School dropouts 9.5% @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/OCDciuTvXS

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) August 6, 2021

The challenge for many firms that relied on exploiting women in low-wage industries with part-time and irregular work is the growing share of women in construction, wholesale trade, and transportation and warehousing. These “better” jobs now compete for women’s work. @AFLCIO

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) August 6, 2021

A very good note in the @BLS_gov is that since last July, full-time employment is up 7.5 million, while part-time employment is up 1.4 million. @AFLCIO

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) August 6, 2021

Last month’s biggest job gains were in leisure and hospitality (+380,000), local government education (+221,000), professional and business services (+60,000), transportation and warehousing (+50,000), private education (+40,000), other services (+39,000), health care (+37,000), manufacturing (+27,000), information (+24,000), financial activities (+22,000) and mining (+7,000). Employment in retail trade (-6,000) declined over the month. In July, employment showed little change in construction and wholesale trade.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates declined in July for Black Americans (8.2%), Hispanics (6.6%), adult men (5.4%), adult women (5.0%), White Americans (4.8%). The jobless rates for teenagers (9.6%) and Asian Americans (5.3%) showed little change over the month.

The number of long-term unemployed workers (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) decreased in July and accounted for 39.3% of the total unemployed.