The U.S. unemployment rate continued to decline in September, but job growth slowed, according to the last employment statistics report released by the U.S. government before the election.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 7.9 percent in September from 8.4 percent in August, but new jobs grew by only 661,000, a huge drop from 1.5 million new jobs in August and 1.8 million new jobs in July, according to a statistical report released Friday (Oct. 2) by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Bill Adams, vice president and senior economist at PNC Financial Group, told VOA: “September’s statistics show that the labor market recovered further last month, but the pace of recovery is slowing.
The AP says the September numbers reflect a continued decline in the number of unemployed Americans actively seeking employment, and that many Americans have given up looking for work. And the government does not classify unemployed people as unemployed if they are not actively looking for work.
The Associated Press reports that this week also saw a new wave of layoffs, indicating that air travel and tourism have been hit hard by the epidemic. Disney announced 28,000 job cuts; Allstate is laying off 3,800 employees; and U.S. airlines announced that 40,000 airline employees will be laid off this month as a result of the expiration of the federal bailout.
By the end of the year and into next year, we think the job market will continue to recover, but just like in September, the recovery will continue to slow down, and those who can get back to work quickly and easily are now largely back in the workforce,” Wenbin Ye told VOA. Many companies are already finding that while they can reopen their doors, business conditions are not as optimistic. So in the September statistics, we are seeing more and more people in permanent unemployment rather than temporary unemployment. This is also slower to resolve than the temporary unemployment problem.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the number of unemployed people who say their jobs are gone forever has risen from 3.4 million to 3.8 million.
Yap said, “The recent turmoil in the stock market has been viewed as higher uncertainty about the short-term future. If the U.S. government can implement a new stimulus package, the recovery can proceed at a better pace into next year. By the end of this year, the unemployment rate may be able to drop to 7%.”
In April of this year, during the height of the neo-coronavirus epidemic, the U.S. unemployment rate was 14.7%, a rate not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The current unemployment rate is higher than the April rate. The current unemployment rate is a significant improvement from the April peak, but remains at a historically high level. Before the epidemic hit the U.S., the unemployment rate in February was 3.5%, the lowest in more than 50 years.
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