Transmission of material in this statement is embargoed until 

8:30 a.m. (ET) February 5, 2021.

Statement of 

William W. Beach 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, February 5, 2021

The unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 6.3 

percent in January, and nonfarm payroll employment changed 

little (+49,000). The labor market continued to be impacted by

the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to contain it. 

Notable job gains in professional and business services and in

both public and private education were offset by losses in 

leisure and hospitality, in retail trade, in health care, and in 

transportation and warehousing.

Substantial job losses related to the coronavirus pandemic 

first occurred in March (-1.7 million) and April (-20.7 million) 

of 2020. As economic activity resumed, employment increased by 

12.6 million from May through November but declined again in 

December (-227,000) following a surge in the number of 

coronavirus cases. In January, nonfarm employment changed little 

(+49,000) and was below its February 2020 level by 9.9 million, 

or 6.5 percent. 
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The response rate for the establishment survey was slightly 

below average in January. The rate for the household survey, 

while slightly below normal due to pandemic-related issues, was 

much higher than earlier in the pandemic. The impact of the 

pandemic on the household and establishment surveys is detailed 

in the January Employment Situation news release and 

accompanying materials (available on the BLS website at 

www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_02052021.htm). 

Taking a closer look at the January payroll data, 

employment in professional and business services increased by 

97,000 over the month, led by a gain of 81,000 in temporary help 

services. Smaller job gains occurred in management and 

consulting services (+16,000), computer systems design 

(+11,000), and scientific research services (+10,000). These 

gains were partially offset by losses in services to buildings 

and dwellings (-14,000) and in advertising (-6,000). Employment 

in professional and business services has risen by 1.6 million 

since a recent low in April but remains 825,000 below its 

February level. 

In January, employment increased in local government 

education (+49,000), state government education (+36,000), and

private education (+34,000). In both public and private 

education, pandemic-related employment declines in 2020 

distorted the normal seasonal buildup and layoff patterns. This 
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likely contributed to the job gains in January (after seasonal 

adjustment). 

Wholesale trade continued to add jobs in January (+14,000). 

Since April, employment in the industry has risen by 146,000.

However, it is 263,000 lower than it was in February.

In January, mining added 9,000 jobs, mostly in support 

activities for mining (+8,000). Mining employment is down by 

133,000 since a recent peak in January 2019, though employment 

in the industry showed little change for several months prior to 

the uptick in January. 

Leisure and hospitality lost 61,000 jobs in January,

following a large loss of 536,000 jobs in December. Employment 

in accommodation edged down in January (-18,000). After 

declining by 402,000 in December, employment in food services 

and drinking places changed little in January (-19,000). 

Employment in leisure and hospitality fell by 8.2 million during 

March and April, increased by 4.9 million from May to November, 

and then declined by 597,000 over the past 2 months. 

In January, retail trade lost 38,000 jobs, following a gain 

of 135,000 jobs in December. Over the month, job losses occurred 

in general merchandising stores (-38,000), electronics and 

appliance stores (-29,000), and nonstore retailers (-15,000). By 

contrast, employment rose in food and beverage stores (+15,000), 

clothing and accessories stores (+15,000), and health and 
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personal care stores (+14,000). Since February, employment in 

retail trade is down by 383,000. 

Health care employment declined by 30,000 over the month. 

Nursing care facilities (-19,000) and community care facilities 

for the elderly (-7,000) continued to lose jobs in January. 

Employment also declined in home health care services (-13,000). 

Health care employment is 542,000 lower than its February level. 

In January, transportation and warehousing lost 28,000 

jobs, including a loss of 17,000 in warehousing and storage. 

Couriers and messengers lost 14,000 jobs in January and 31,000

jobs in December, following an unusually large job gain in 

November (+72,000). Employment in air transportation increased 

by 15,000 in January but is down by 105,000 since February. 

Employment in manufacturing changed little in January 

(-10,000), with a decline of 17,000 in durable goods industries. 

Manufacturing employment has increased by 803,000 since April 

but is down by 582,000 since February, before the onset of the 

pandemic. 

Construction employment changed little in January (-3,000), 

after increasing for 8 consecutive months. However, employment 

in the industry is down by 256,000 since February. 

Employment in other major industries--including

information, financial activities, and other services--showed 

little change over the month. 
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Average weekly hours for all private-sector workers 

increased by 0.3 hour in January to 35.0 hours. The average 

workweek for manufacturing increased by 0.3 hour to 40.4 hours.

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls increased by 6 cents to $29.96 in January, following an

increase of 29 cents in December. One should continue to use 

caution when interpreting changes in average weekly hours and 

average hourly earnings during the pandemic, as large shifts in 

the industry composition of employment can complicate monthly 

comparisons. 

Turning to the labor market indicators from the household 

survey, the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 

6.3 percent in January, and the number of unemployed people 

declined to 10.1 million. Both measures have fallen from their 

recent peaks in April 2020 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 January for adult men (6.0 percent), adult women 

(6.0 percent), Whites (5.7 percent), and Hispanics (8.6 

percent). The jobless rates for teenagers (14.8 percent), Blacks 

(9.2 percent), and Asians (6.6 percent) showed little change. 

Among the unemployed, the number of people on temporary 

layoff decreased to 2.7 million in January and is down 

considerably from the high of 18.0 million in April. At 3.5 
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million, the number of permanent job losers changed little in 

January but is up by 2.2 million since February. The number of 

reentrants--people who previously worked but were not in the 

labor force prior to beginning their job search--declined to 2.0 

million in January. 

By duration of unemployment, the number of people searching 

for work for less than 5 weeks decreased over the month to 2.3 

million. The number of people searching for work for 27 weeks or 

more (often referred to as the long-term unemployed), at 4.0 

million, was about unchanged over the month but is up by 2.9 

million since February. In January, the long-term unemployed 

accounted for 39.5 percent of the unemployed. 

Both the labor force participation rate and the employmentpopulation ratio changed little over the month, at 61.4 percent 

and 57.5 percent, respectively. Since February, the 

participation rate is down by 1.9 percentage points, and the 

employment-population ratio is down by 3.6 percentage points. 

In January, 6.0 million people were working part time for 

economic reasons (also referred to as involuntary part-time 

workers), little changed from the previous month. The number of 

people affected by this type of underemployment is 1.6 million 

higher than in February. 

At 7.0 million, the number of people not in the labor force 

who currently want a job edged down in January. Among those who 
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were not in the labor force but wanted a job, the number of 

people marginally attached to the labor force declined to 1.9 

million. (People who are marginally attached to the labor force 

had not actively looked for work in the 4 weeks prior to the 

survey but 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, at 

624,000, was essentially unchanged over the month. 

Since March 2020, household survey interviewers have been 

instructed to classify employed people absent from work due to 

temporary, coronavirus-related business closures or cutbacks as 

unemployed on temporary layoff. 

As in previous months, some workers affected by the 

pandemic who should have been classified as unemployed on 

temporary layoff in January were instead misclassified as 

employed but not at work. However, the share of responses that 

may have been misclassified was considerably smaller in recent 

months than at the onset of the pandemic. 

For March through December, BLS 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 January unemployment rate 

would have been 0.6 percentage point higher than reported. 

However, this represents the upper bound of our estimate of 
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misclassification and probably overstates the size of the 

misclassification error. Additional information is available on 

the BLS website at www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situationcovid19-faq-january-2021.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 

January because of the coronavirus pandemic edged down to 23.2 

percent. These data refer to employed people who teleworked or 

worked at home for pay at some point in the last 4 weeks 

specifically because of the pandemic. 

In January, 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--decreased to 14.8 million. Among those who 

reported in January that they were unable to work because of 

pandemic-related closures or lost business, 12.7 percent 

received at least some pay from their employer for the hours not 

worked, little changed from December. 

Among those not in the labor force in January, 4.7 million 

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

little changed from December. (To be counted as unemployed, by 
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definition, individuals must either be actively searching for 

work or on temporary layoff.) 

Following our usual practice, there were routine annual 

adjustments to the data from our two surveys. The establishment 

survey data released today reflect the incorporation of annual 

benchmark revisions. Each year, we re-anchor our sample-based 

survey estimates to full universe counts of employment, 

primarily derived from the Quarterly Census of Employment and 

Wages, which counts jobs covered by the unemployment insurance 

tax system. Payroll employment for March 2020 was revised 

downward by 250,000 (on a not seasonally adjusted 

basis, -121,000 or -0.1 percent). Not seasonally adjusted, the 

average benchmark revision over the past 10 years was plus or 

minus 0.2 percent. (Additional information about the benchmark 

revision and its impact is contained in our news release and on 

our website at www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesbmart.htm.) 

Household survey data for January reflect updated 

population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Again this 

year, the impact of the new population controls on the 

unemployment rate and other ratios was negligible. (Further 

information can be found in our news release and on our website 

at www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cps-pop-control-adjustments.pdf.) 
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In summary, the unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent in 

January, and total nonfarm payroll employment changed little 

(+49,000).