Weekly Hourly Hiring Report 9/7/21

How COVID-19 is affecting hourly work

Weekly Hourly Hiring Report 9/7/21

Highlights

Overall jobs are up 97% compared to pre-pandemic norms, with 11% month over month growth and 86% year over year growth. Google searches for hourly jobs are down 8% year over year.

With 10 million job openings and more than 8.4 million unemployed workers still actively looking for work—we are experiencing one of the greatest mismatches between jobs available and what workers want. And, the Delta variant surge is working against the economic progress we’ve made while further complicating the labor market. Here’s what we’re tracking this week: 

The impact of COVID-19 on hourly workers 

• COVID-era unemployment benefits expired nationwide yesterday, September 6, ending unemployment insurance of $300 a week for more than 7 million Americans. There is no indication that Congress will extend these enhanced benefits.

• In August, 5.6 million individuals reported that they didn’t work or worked shortened hours because of COVID-19, an increase from 5.2 million the prior month according to the Labor Department.

What the August Jobs Report shows about the labor market

• The economy is losing steam—according to economist Bernard Baumohl, “Consumers are much more cautious about spending, a lot of businesses recognize this and are also willing to pull back on hiring.”

• ​​Economists anticipated 750,000 new jobs created in August, yet actual job numbers fell significantly short at 235,000. 

• There are 5.3 million fewer jobs than pre-pandemic. 

• Employment in leisure and hospitality was flat in August, held back by a 42,000 decrease in payrolls at restaurants and bars. Retail trade, construction, government and health care employment also declined last month.

But slowed recovery doesn’t mean we’ve lost all momentum—not all news out of the Jobs Report was negative.

• The “job-finding” rate, or the rate at which unemployed individuals found jobs, increased for the second month in a row

• Wages increased 0.6% from a month earlier and 4.3% from a year ago

• Overall unemployment declined, to 5.2% from 5.4%

• Payrolls at professional and business services, transportation and warehousing, and manufacturing all increased last month. Factory employment climbed 37,000 in August, reflecting a sizable boost at motor vehicle plants.

We’ll be carefully watching the next few jobs reports—which will reflect the impact of back-to-school, the holiday season and the expiration of additional unemployment benefits. 

Jobs

All industry data is from 3/2/20-9/6/21

Here are the latest job numbers by industry:

Quick service restaurant (QSR) jobs are down 20% compared to pre-pandemic norms, flat month over month growth and 7% year over year growth.

Sit-down restaurant jobs are down 36% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 4% month over month growth and 11% year over year growth.

Warehouse and logistics jobs are up 300% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 24% month over month growth and a 168% year over year decline.

Retail jobs are up 19% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 19% month over month growth and 42% year over year growth.

Grocery jobs are up 85% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 1% month over month growth and 40% year over year growth.

Hospitality jobs are up 292% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 20% month over month decline and 338% year over year growth.

On demand jobs are up 221% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing 9% month over month growth and 185% year over year growth.

Convenience store jobs are down 5% compared to pre-pandemic norms, flat month over month and 9% year over year growth.

Healthcare jobs are up 121% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 1% month over month decline and 107% year over year growth.

Workers

Google searches for hourly jobs are down 8% 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.