Transmission of material in this statement is embargoed until 

8:30 a.m. (ET) January 8, 2021.

Statement of 

William W. Beach 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, January 8, 2021

Nonfarm payroll employment declined by 140,000 in December, 

and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7 percent. The 

decline in payroll employment reflects the recent rise in the 

number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and increased efforts to 

contain the pandemic. In December, job losses in leisure and 

hospitality and in private education were partially offset by 

gains elsewhere, particularly in professional and business 

services, retail trade, and construction. 

Substantial job losses related to the coronavirus pandemic 

first occurred in March (-1.4 million) and April (-20.8 million)

of 2020. As economic activity resumed, employment increased by 

12.5 million from May through November. After declining again in 

December (-140,000), nonfarm employment was below its February 

level by 9.8 million, or 6.5 percent. 

The response rate for the establishment survey was about 

average in December. The rate for the household survey, while 
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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 

December Employment Situation news release and accompanying 

materials (available on the BLS website at 

www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_01082021.htm). 

Taking a closer look at the December payroll data, 

employment in leisure and hospitality decreased by 498,000. Job 

losses in food services and drinking places (-372,000) accounted 

for three-quarters of the decline, as many restaurants and bars 

closed or curtailed operations in December due to the pandemic. 

Elsewhere in leisure and hospitality, employment decreased by 

92,000 in amusements, gambling, and recreation and by 24,000 in 

accommodation. Since February, employment is down by 3.9 million 

in leisure and hospitality, including a decline of 2.5 million 

in food services and drinking places. 

Employment in private education declined by 63,000 in 

December and is down by 450,000 since February. 

In December, government employment declined by 45,000. Job

losses occurred in state government education (-20,000) and in 

local government, excluding education (-32,000). Since February, 

government employment has declined by 1.3 million.

Employment in the other services industry declined by 

22,000 in December and is down by 453,000 since February. Within 
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the industry, personal and laundry services lost 12,000 jobs 

over the month. 

Employment in professional and business services rose by 

161,000 in December, led by a gain of 68,000 in temporary help 

services. Computer systems design and related services 

(+20,000), other professional and technical services (+11,000), 

management of companies and enterprises (+11,000), and business 

support services (+7,000) also added jobs over the month. 

Employment in professional and business services has risen by 

1.4 million since a recent low in April but remains 858,000 

below its February level. 

Retail trade added 121,000 jobs in December, but employment 

in the industry is down by 411,000 since February. In December, 

job gains occurred in the component of general merchandise 

stores that includes warehouse clubs and supercenters (+59,000), 

in nonstore retailers (+14,000), in automobile dealers 

(+13,000), and in health and personal care stores (+10,000). 

Construction added 51,000 jobs in December, but employment 

in the industry is down by 226,000 since February. Within the 

industry, employment grew over the month in residential 

specialty trade contractors (+14,000) and residential building 

(+9,000); these residential components have recovered all of the 

jobs lost in March and April. In December, employment also 

increased in nonresidential specialty trade contractors 
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(+18,000) and in heavy and civil engineering construction 

(+15,000). 

In December, employment in transportation and warehousing 

increased by 47,000, mostly in couriers and messengers 

(+37,000). In addition, job gains occurred in warehousing and 

storage (+8,000), truck transportation (+7,000), and air 

transportation (+3,000). Transit and ground passenger 

transportation lost jobs (-9,000). Employment in transportation 

and warehousing is down by 89,000 since February; over the same 

period, employment in the couriers and messengers component has 

risen by 222,000. 

Health care added 39,000 jobs in December. Job gains in 

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

(+21,000) were partially offset by losses in nursing care 

facilities (-6,000) and community care facilities for the 

elderly (-5,000). Despite job growth of 1.1 million since April, 

employment in health care is 502,000 lower than in February. 

In December, manufacturing employment increased by 38,000. 

Within durable goods, job gains occurred in motor vehicles and

parts (+7,000) and nonmetallic mineral products (+6,000). In 

nondurable goods, job gains occurred in plastics and rubber 

products (+7,000), apparel (+4,000), and petroleum and coal 

products (+3,000). By contrast, miscellaneous nondurable goods 
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manufacturing lost 11,000 jobs. Employment in manufacturing is 

down by 543,000 since February. 

Wholesale trade added 25,000 jobs over the month, including 

11,000 jobs each in durable goods and in nondurable goods. 

Employment in wholesale trade is down by 251,000 since February. 

Employment in other major industries--including mining, 

information, and financial activities--showed little change over 

the month. 

Average weekly hours for all private-sector workers 

decreased by 0.1 hour in December to 34.7 hours. The average 

workweek for manufacturing was unchanged at 40.2 hours. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls increased by 23 cents in December to $29.81. This

increase largely reflects the disproportionate number of lowerpaid workers in leisure and hospitality who went off payrolls, 

which put upward pressure on the average hourly earnings 

estimate. 

Turning to the labor market indicators from the household 

survey, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7 percent in 

December, and the number of unemployed people was also unchanged 

at 10.7 million. Both measures have fallen from their recent 

peaks in April but remain nearly twice their February levels 

(3.5 percent and 5.7 million, respectively). 
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Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for 

teenagers (16.0 percent) and Hispanics (9.3 percent) increased 

in December. The jobless rates for adult men (6.4 percent), 

adult women (6.3 percent), Whites (6.0 percent), Blacks (9.9 

percent), and Asians (5.9 percent) showed little change. 

Among the unemployed, the number on temporary layoff, at 

3.0 million, increased by 277,000 in December. Although the 

number of people on temporary layoff is down considerably from 

the high of 18.0 million in April, it is 2.3 million higher than 

in February. The number of permanent job losers declined by 

348,000 to 3.4 million in December but is up by 2.1 million 

since February. The number of unemployed reentrants increased by 

282,000 over the month to 2.3 million. 

By duration of unemployment, the number of people searching 

for work for less than 5 weeks increased by 449,000 over the 

month to 2.9 million, and the number of people jobless for 15 to 

26 weeks decreased by 303,000 to 1.6 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 in December, was 

about unchanged over the month but is up by 2.8 million since 

February. In December, the long-term unemployed accounted for 

37.1 percent of unemployed people, up from 19.3 percent in 

February. 
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The labor force participation rate remained at 61.5 percent 

in December, and the employment-population ratio was 57.4 

percent for the third consecutive month. Since February, the 

participation rate is down by 1.8 percentage points, and the 

employment-population ratio is down by 3.7 percentage points.

In December, the number of people working part time for 

economic reasons (also referred to as involuntary part-time 

workers) decreased by 471,000 to 6.2 million, after little 

change in November. The number of people affected by this type 

of underemployment in December is 4.7 million lower than the 

recent peak in April but is 1.8 million higher than it was in 

February.

At 7.3 million, the number of people not in the labor force 

who currently want a job was little changed in December but 

remains 2.3 million higher than in February. 

Among those who were not in the labor force but wanted a 

job, 2.2 million were considered marginally attached to the 

labor force in December, little changed from November but up by 

749,000 since February. (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 
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them, at 663,000, was essentially unchanged over the month. This 

measure is 262,000 higher than it was in February. 

Since March, 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 occurred in previous months, some workers affected by 

the pandemic who should have been classified as unemployed on 

temporary layoff in December 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 November, 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 overall December unemployment rate would have been 

0.6 percentage point higher than reported. However, this 

represents the upper bound of our estimate of misclassification 

and probably overstates the size of the misclassification error. 

Additional information is available on the BLS website at 

www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situation-covid19-faq-december2020.htm. 

Looking at supplemental pandemic-related measures from the 

household survey (these supplemental data are not seasonally 
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adjusted), 23.7 percent of employed people teleworked in 

December because of the coronavirus pandemic, up from 21.8 

percent in November. 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 December, 15.8 million people 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. This measure is up from 14.8 million in November. 

Among those who reported in December that they were unable to 

work because of pandemic-related closures or lost business, 12.8 

percent received at least some pay from their employer for the 

hours not worked, little changed from November. 

Among those not in the labor force in December, 4.6 million 

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

up from 3.9 million in November. (To be counted as unemployed, 

by definition, individuals must either be actively searching for 

work or on temporary layoff.) 

Following our regular annual practice, seasonal adjustment 

factors for the household survey data have been updated with the 

release of December data. Seasonally adjusted estimates going 

back 5 years--to January 2016--were subject to revision. 
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In summary, nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 140,000 

in December, and the unemployment rate held at 6.7 percent.