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Waiters and Bartenders Lead Job Recovery in the United States

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The number of new jobs in the United States increased to 850,000 in the month of June, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Compared to April, almost 300,000 new jobs have been created, but the recovery in some sectors remains uneven compared to others.

Analyzing the BLS data, about 194,300 jobs were created in June in food and beverage services, mainly waiters and bartenders. Another 149,000 jobs were created in accommodation, entertainment and recreation. In other words, more than one-third of U.S. hiring was in the leisure sector.

Again, the second sector to increase hiring is education. Local institutions hired about 155,000 people, while state educational institutions hired about 75,000 and finally private institutions hired 39,000. The high teacher hiring numbers come as a surprise, as the U.S. school year has just ended.

Traditional stores and retail seem to be coming back to life with the reopening and thousands of jobs have been recovered in traditional stores. (Image: EFE)

“Without the typical previous seasonal employment increases, there were fewer layoffs at the end of the school year, resulting in job gains after the seasonal adjustment,” was the BLS explanation for the unusual increase in teacher hiring.

Employment of office and service professionals saw growth of 72,000 new jobs, although another 633,000 positions remain to be filled to reach February 2020 pre-pandemic levels.

The reopening and lifting of restrictions has helped traditional retail to regain jobs, a total of 67,000. More than 28,000 jobs were created in general merchandise stores, 25,000 in miscellaneous stores, and 13,000 in auto dealerships.

The number of people employed in construction jobs in the United States continues to fall. (Image: EFE)

Manufacturing attracted 15,000 new jobs, while other non-manufacturing industries attracted 56,000 jobs. Transportation and warehousing employment also added 11,000 jobs, as this industry has recently been one of the hardest hit by supply chain bottlenecks.

Construction lost other 7,000 jobs, marking two consecutive months of declines in construction employment.

Millions of U.S. jobs still to be recovered

The increase in hiring may also have been impacted by the fact that in June 22 states terminated COVID-19 emergency federal unemployment benefits.

On June 12, Alaska Missouri, Mississippi and Iowa eliminated unemployment benefits. By June 19 Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming did so too. By June 26, benefits were withdrawn in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Utah.

Maryland and Tennessee lifted unemployment benefits this July 3, while Arizona will do so on July 10 and Louisiana on August 3.

More than 22 states have lifted federal unemployment benefits, implemented to address the coronavirus emergency. (Image: EFE)

Unemployment appears to continue to affect adult men (5.9%) much more acutely than women (5.5%). The teenage population faces the highest unemployment rates as an age group, at 9.9%.

On the other hand, the white population faces an unemployment rate of 5.2%, Asians 5.8%, Hispanics 7.4% and African-Americans 9.2%. The BLS puts the average unemployment rate in the country at 5.9%, which means that about 9.5 million Americans remain unemployed.

Economist, writer and liberal. With a focus on finance, the war on drugs, history, and geopolitics // Economista, escritor y liberal. Con enfoque en finanzas, guerra contra las drogas, historia y geopolítica

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