“August Jobs Boom: U.S. Economy Adds Huge Boost Above Expectations”

The U.S. job market is continuing to inch its way back up after the nationwide shutdown back in spring, as new reports suggest that 187,000 jobs were added in August. This figures show a major upturn from July’s addition of only 142,000 jobs, and is much higher than the expectations of 142,000 from economists. This large addition of jobs was largely attributed to the recovery taking place in the leisure and hospitality sector of business, where an increase of 77,000 jobs was found. Retail also saw an upturn from July, with 35,000 jobs added in August, and education and health services added an additional 44,000 for the month. These figures also showed the lowest level of unemployment seen since the pandemic began, with the overall rate of unemployment now at 8.4%. This figure, however, would be much higher if it weren’t for the 1600,000 people who had left the labor force in August. This news does come with some caveats, however, as it remains below the level of jobs seen before the pandemic. Overall, there have been 11.5 million jobs lost since the pandemic began, and with key industries such as leisure, hospitality and retail all facing near certain closures in the coming months, it is yet to be determined when we will return to pre-pandemic employment levels.