Weekly Hourly Hiring Report 6/29/21

How COVID-19 is affecting hourly work

Weekly Hourly Hiring Report 6/29/21

Highlights

Overall jobs are up 66% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 4% month over month growth and 101% year over year growth. Google searches for hourly jobs are down 9% year over year.

The road to economic recovery remains a bumpy one as consumer demand skyrockets and the upcoming 4th of July weekend is expected to be the busiest travel period since the start of the pandemic. Yet, American workers remain reluctant to fill the unprecedented number of job openings. Both lingering and emerging (e.g., Delta variant) health and safety concerns, limited childcare options over the summer and additional unemployment benefits are still keeping many workers on the sidelines.

However, it’s looking increasingly less likely that pandemic-era unemployment benefits are the main driver of the tight labor market. Job search activity remains stagnant in states ending these additional Federal unemployment benefits early, despite hopes that this change in payout would encourage people in those states to return to work. We predict the expiration of benefits under the American Rescue Plan and the mass return to school in the fall will motivate many to more seriously search for and find employment. 

The June Jobs report, due Friday, is expected to show improvement after the two previous months fell short of expectations. Experts are predicting a 695,000 gain in payrolls. But for now, the labor shortage continues as businesses struggle to find sufficient help.

There’s one demographic that’s benefiting from this historically tight job market—teenage workers. Of the 266,000 added jobs noted in the previous Jobs Report, 96% went to workers ages 16-19. High schoolers are proving to be an asset to businesses since they're more likely to start work on a shorter timeline, cost less because of limited experience and are easily incentivized by things like signing bonuses. 

Jobs

All industry data is from 3/2/20-6/28/21

Here are the latest job numbers by industry:

Quick service restaurant (QSR) jobs are down 20% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 5% month over month growth and 3% year over year growth.

Sit-down restaurant jobs are down 41% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 13% month over month decline and 11% year over year growth.

Warehouse and logistics jobs are up 240% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 26% month over month growth and 156% year over year growth.

Retail jobs are up 11% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 20% month over month growth and 58% year over year growth.

Grocery jobs are up 82% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 2% month over month growth and 56% year over year growth.

Hospitality jobs are up 277% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 68% month over month growth and 348% year over year growth.

On demand jobs are up 158% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 7% month over month growth and 219% year over year growth.

Convenience store jobs are down 18% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 7% month over month growth and 7% year over year growth.

Healthcare jobs are up 94% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 1% month over month decline and 87% year over year growth.

Workers

Google searches for hourly jobs are down 9% year over year.

The bottom line

We’ll continue to be your best resource for hourly job market insights as we collectively navigate towards our new normal and beyond.