Infographic: Jobs Report Reveals Long Climb Back To Pre-Pandemic State

While the American labor market continued to recover from the devastating effects of the spring wave of the coronavirus pandemic in October, last week’s jobs report revealed that it’s still a long climb back to where things were before the virus outbreak.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, total nonfarm employment rose by 638,000 last month as the unemployment rate declined to 6.9 percent. “These improvements in the labor market reflect the continued resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to contain it,” the BLS wrote in its official release, adding that “notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, retail trade, and construction.”

While the numbers certainly point towards an improvement overall, they do come with an asterisk. For one thing, the speed of recovery has slowed down compared to previous months. What’s more important though, is the fact that the latest job gains were largely driven by sectors that are highly vulnerable to a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, namely bars, restaurants, and retailers.

As the following chart shows, the coronavirus pandemic wiped out years’ worth of job gains in spring, with total employment still 10 million short of February’s pre-pandemic level.