Weekly Hourly Hiring Report 7/20/21

How COVID-19 is affecting hourly work

Weekly Hourly Hiring Report 7/20/21

Highlights

Overall jobs are up 65% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 1% month over month decline and 83% year over year growth. Google searches for hourly jobs are down 5% year over year.

For more insights on the labor market and 4 critical areas to focus on in this hiring environment view our July 2021 Hourly Job Market Update.

There are several forces at play—the nearing end of federal unemployment benefits nationally, the uptick in Delta variant cases and the start of the much anticipated school year—that make it tough to predict the trajectory of the pandemic and its impact on the labor market headed into the Fall. Although, we don’t anticipate noticeably more impact to the labor market than we are experiencing today.

• In recent days, 58% of U.S. COVID-19 cases have stemmed from the Delta variant, and while this is bringing back mask mandate fears and stock market blips, it doesn’t appear to be affecting businesses. 

• More than 25 states have ended the additional federal unemployment benefits, but it’s not as helpful as expected in filling the 9.2 million open jobs in the U.S., because for many workers—especially parents with young children—barriers like childcare make reentry much less straightforward.  

• First-time claims for state unemployment programs decreased by 26,000 to 360,000 in the week ending July 10. Continuing claims for ongoing state benefits fell to 3.24 million in the week ending July 3. Even so, initial claims remain above pre-pandemic levels and employers continue to point out trouble with finding qualified workers, which could be holding back the pace of the labor market recovery. 

Jobs

All industry data is from 3/2/20-7/20/21

Here are the latest job numbers by industry:

Quick service restaurant (QSR) jobs are down 21% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 1% month over month decline and 5% year over year growth.

Sit-down restaurant jobs are down 34% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 7% month over month growth and 16% year over year growth.

Warehouse and logistics jobs are up 226% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 13% month over month decline and a 144% year over year decline.

Retail jobs are up 4% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 6% month over month decline and 33% year over year growth.

Grocery jobs are up 78% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 3% month over month decline and 64% year over year growth.

Hospitality jobs are up 316% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 37% month over month growth and 371% year over year growth.

On demand jobs are up 159% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 1% month over month decline and 191% year over year growth.

Convenience store jobs are down 16% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 2% month over month growth and a 3% year over year decline.

Healthcare jobs are up 100% compared to pre-pandemic norms, 5% month over month growth and 90% year over year growth.

Workers

Google searches for hourly jobs are down 5% 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.