Transmission of material in this statement is embargoed until 

8:30 a.m. (ET) August 6, 2021. 

Statement of

William W. Beach

Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, August 6, 2021

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 943,000 in July, 

and the unemployment rate fell by 0.5 percentage point to 5.4 

percent. Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, 

in local government education, and in professional and business 

services.

Reflecting the initial impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) 

pandemic on the labor market, job losses totaled 22.4 million 

during the February-April 2020 recession (-1.7 million in March

and -20.7 million in April). As economic activity resumed, job 

gains in May through November totaled 12.6 million. Employment 

declined again in December (-306,000), following a surge in the 

number of coronavirus cases. Job growth restarted in January of 

this year, and nonfarm payroll employment has increased by 4.3

million over the past 7 months. However, employment is down by 

5.7 million, or 3.7 percent, from the pre-pandemic employment 

peak in February 2020.
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Strong job growth continued in leisure and hospitality, 

which added 380,000 jobs in July. Employment gains continued in 

food services and drinking places (+253,000); accommodation 

(+74,000); and arts, entertainment, and recreation (+53,000). 

Leisure and hospitality has added 2.1 million jobs since January 

and accounts for about half of all nonfarm jobs added thus far 

this year. However, employment in the industry is down by 1.7

million, or 10.3 percent, since February 2020.

Employment continued to increase in July in local 

government education (+221,000) and private education (+40,000). 

Pandemic-related staffing fluctuations in education have 

distorted the normal seasonal buildup and layoff patterns, 

likely contributing to the job gains in July. Without the 

earlier typical seasonal employment increases, fewer layoffs at 

the end of the school year can result in job gains after 

seasonal adjustment. These variations make it more challenging 

to discern current employment trends in education. Since 

February 2020, employment is down by 205,000 in local government 

education and by 207,000 in private education.

Employment in professional and business services rose by 

60,000 in July. Within the industry, employment in the 

professional and technical services component rose by 43,000 

over the month and is 121,000 higher than in February 2020. 

(Professional and technical services includes industries such as 
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accounting and bookkeeping services, management and technical 

consulting services, and scientific research and development 

services.) By contrast, employment in the administrative and 

waste services component (which includes temporary help 

services) changed little over the month (+20,000) and is 577,000 

lower than in February 2020. Employment in the management of 

companies and enterprises component was also little changed over 

the month (-3,000) but is 100,000 lower than the level in 

February 2020. Employment in professional and business services

overall is down by 556,000 since February 2020. 

In July, transportation and warehousing added 50,000 jobs, 

with gains in transit and ground passenger transportation 

(+19,000), warehousing and storage (+11,000), couriers and 

messengers (+8,000), support activities for transportation 

(+6,000), and air transportation (+4,000). Overall, 

transportation and warehousing has added 534,000 jobs since 

April 2020; the industry has recovered 92.9 percent of the jobs 

lost during the February-April 2020 recession (-575,000).

Employment in the other services industry increased by 

39,000 in July, with gains in membership associations and 

organizations (+17,000) and in personal and laundry services 

(+15,000). Employment in other services is down by 236,000 since 

February 2020.
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In July, health care employment rose by 37,000, following 

little change in the prior 3 months. In July, job gains occurred 

in ambulatory health care services (+32,000) and hospitals 

(+18,000), while nursing and residential care facilities 

continued to lose jobs (-13,000). Health care employment is 

502,000 below the February 2020 level.

Manufacturing added 27,000 jobs in July, with machinery 

(+7,000) and miscellaneous durable goods (+6,000) contributing 

to the gain. Overall, manufacturing employment is 433,000 lower 

than in February 2020.

Information employment grew by 24,000 in July, with threefourths of the increase occurring in motion picture and sound 

recording industries (+18,000). Employment in information is 

172,000 lower than in February 2020.

In July, financial activities added 22,000 jobs. Most of 

the gain occurred in real estate and rental and leasing 

(+18,000). Since February 2020, employment in financial 

activities is down by 48,000. 

Mining employment rose in July (+7,000), largely in support 

activities for mining (+6,000). Mining employment has risen by 

49,000 since a trough in August 2020 but is down by 103,000

since a peak in January 2019.

Employment in retail trade changed little in July (-6,000), 

following large increases in the prior 2 months. In July, job 
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gains occurred in gasoline stations (+14,000), miscellaneous 

store retailers (+7,000), and nonstore retailers (+5,000), while

building material and garden supply stores lost jobs (-34,000). 

Since February 2020, employment in retail trade is down by 

270,000.

Employment in construction and wholesale trade showed 

little change over the month.

In July, the average workweek for all private-sector 

workers remained unchanged at 34.8 hours. The average workweek 

for manufacturing increased by 0.2 hour to 40.5 hours.

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls increased by 11 cents to $30.54 in July, following 

increases in the prior 3 months. The data for recent months 

suggest that rising demand for labor associated with the 

recovery from the pandemic may have put upward pressure on 

wages. However, because average hourly earnings vary widely 

across industries, the large employment fluctuations since 

February 2020 complicate the analysis of trends in average 

hourly earnings.

Turning to the labor market indicators from the household 

survey, the unemployment rate fell by 0.5 percentage point to 

5.4 percent in July. The number of unemployed people declined by 

782,000 to 8.7 million. These measures have fallen from their 
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April 2020 peaks but remain well above their February 2020 

levels (3.5 percent and 5.7 million, respectively).

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates 

decreased in July for adult men (5.4 percent), adult women (5.0 

percent), Whites (4.8 percent), Blacks (8.2 percent), and 

Hispanics (6.6 percent). The jobless rates for teenagers (9.6 

percent) and Asians (5.3 percent) showed little change.

Among the unemployed, the number of people on temporary 

layoff fell by 572,000 in July to 1.2 million. This measure is 

down considerably from a high of 18.0 million in April 2020 but 

is 489,000 higher than in February 2020. The number of permanent 

job losers declined by 257,000 to 2.9 million in July but is 1.6 

million higher than in February 2020.

The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more (often 

referred to as the long-term unemployed) decreased by 560,000 in 

July to 3.4 million. This measure is up by 2.3 million since 

February 2020. In July, the long-term unemployed accounted for 

39.3 percent of the unemployed. The number of people unemployed 

for less than 5 weeks increased by 276,000 to 2.3 million.

The labor force participation rate, at 61.7 percent, was 

little changed in July and has remained within a narrow range of 

61.4 percent to 61.7 percent since June 2020. This measure is 

1.6 percentage points lower than in February 2020. The 

employment-population ratio rose by 0.4 percentage point to 58.4 
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percent in July but is 2.7 percentage points lower than in 

February 2020.

In July, 4.5 million people were working part time for 

economic reasons, little changed from the previous month. The 

number of people working part time for economic reasons is down 

from a peak of 10.9 million in April 2020. There were 4.4 

million people affected by this type of underemployment in 

February 2020.

The number of people not in the labor force who currently 

want a job, at 6.5 million, changed little in July. This measure 

is down from a peak of 9.9 million in April 2020 but is 1.5 

million higher than in February 2020. Among those not in the 

labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally 

attached to the labor force, at 1.9 million, was also little 

changed in July. (People who are marginally attached to the 

labor force had not actively looked for work in the 4 weeks 

prior to the survey but wanted a job, were available for work, 

and had looked for a job within the last 12 months.) The number 

of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who 

believed that no jobs were available for them, declined by 

110,000 in July to 507,000.

As in previous months, some workers affected by the 

pandemic who should have been classified as unemployed on 

temporary layoff in July were instead misclassified as employed 
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but not at work. Since March 2020, BLS has published an estimate 

of what the unemployment rate would have been had misclassified 

workers been included among the unemployed. Repeating this same 

approach, the seasonally adjusted July unemployment rate would 

have been 0.3 percentage point higher than reported. Additional 

information about the misclassification, as well as information 

about response rates for both the household and establishment 

surveys, is available on the BLS website at 

www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situation-covid19-faq-july2021.htm.

Looking at supplemental pandemic-related measures from the 

household survey (these supplemental data are not seasonally 

adjusted), the share of employed people who teleworked in July 

because of the coronavirus pandemic declined by 1.2 percentage 

points to 13.2 percent. These data refer only to employed people 

who teleworked or worked at home for pay at some point in the

last 4 weeks specifically because of the pandemic; they do not 

include all instances of telework.

In July, the number of people who reported that they had 

been unable to work because their employer closed or lost 

business due to the pandemic--that is, they did not work at all 

or worked fewer hours at some point in the last 4 weeks due to 

the pandemic--fell by 1.1 million to 5.2 million. Among those 

who reported in July that they were unable to work because of 
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pandemic-related closures or lost business, 9.1 percent received 

at least some pay from their employer for the hours not worked, 

little changed from the prior month. 

Among those not in the labor force in July, 1.6 million 

people were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic, 

essentially unchanged from the prior month. (To be counted as 

unemployed, by definition, individuals must either be actively 

searching for work or on temporary layoff.)

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 943,000 

in July, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent.