October 2020 Employment Summary

Staff Solve strives to assist employers and job seekers with information and process hiring, but the overall economic picture of employment trends in the United States and possible factors involved. 

For the month of October, employment rose to 638,000, declining the unemployment rate to 6.9 percent (a 1.0% change compared to September). While the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) identifies a steady decline in the unemployment rate over a 6-month period, unemployment is still higher than reported in February. This is due to the unpredictability of the coronavirus on the economy. Unemployment declined for all major worker groups: 6.7% for all adult men, 6.5% for all adult women, and 13.9% for teenagers. Due to the pandemic, about 21.2% of employees are currently working from home due to the safety concerns of COVID-19, but did decrease 1.5% when compared to September. Persons in the workforce wanting a job decreased by 539,000 due to employment opportunities or reasons to stop looking for work.

Temporary unemployment decreased by 1.4 million to result in an overall 3.2 million. Since April, this has decreased significantly (an estimated 18.1 million) and hopes to bring promise to those seeking employment. Permanent job losers resulted in no change when compared to last month. The number of unemployed persons who were jobless for less than 5 weeks remained unchanged as well. The number of persons jobless 5 to 14 weeks decreased by 457,000, and those jobless 15 to 26 weeks decreased by 2.3 million. Long-term unemployed persons, those jobless for 27 weeks or more, increased 1.2 million, accounting for 32.5% of the total unemployment rate. 

Part-time employment increased by 1.2 million, a positive change compared to September when there was a noticeable decrease due to the number of people experiencing hours cut due to business conditions. Over a 6 month period, part-time employment experienced a decline, with this being the first positive turnaround since heavy pandemic regulations and adjustments were made earlier in the year. The labor force participation rate increased by 0.03% and the employment-population ratio increased by 0.8%. 

The top four industries hiring in October were leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, retail trade, and construction. Leisure and hospitality increase by 271,000, with gains in food services and drinking industries totaling 192,000 and recreation totaling 44,000 jobs. Professional and business services contributed 208,000 jobs over the month, with temporary help services contributing to half of its value, buildings and dwellings at 19,000, computer systems design and related services at 16,000, and management and technology consulting equating to 15,000. Employment in retail trade rose 104,000. One-third of its gain resulted from electronics and appliances (an estimated 31,0000, motor vehicles following at 23,000, furniture and home furnishings contributing 14,000, clothing and clothing accessories at 13,000, general merchandise ending around 10,000 and nonstore retailers adding 9,000 to the overall industry workforce. 

Construction employment rose 84,000, with specialty trade contractors for nonresidential adding 28,000, specialty trade contractors for residential following with 18,000, civil engineering in construction science at 19,000, and the general construction of buildings adding 19,000. Employment in health care and social assistance rose by 79,000. Health care added 58,000 jobs in October, with continued growth in offices of physicians, offices of dentists, and outpatient care centers. Social assistance added 21,000 jobs, while there is a notable decline in nursing and residential care facilities for the industry due to the pandemic’s uncertainty for the safety of others. 

October also saw noticeable increases in other industries. Employment in transportation and warehousing rose by 63,000, manufacturing with 38,000 jobs, and financial activities adding 31,000 jobs. Employment for personal and laundry services increased by 27,000 while repair and maintenance added 18,000 jobs. Industries in mining, wholesale trade, and information experience little change this month. 

The average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls in October are $29.50, an estimated increase of four cents. The average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees were also changed to $24.82, a five-cent increase. 
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October 2020 Employment Summary

October 2020 Employment Summary