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February 05, 2021US EMPLOYMENT, JANUARY 2021 The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that US non-farm payroll employment edged up 49,000 from December 2020 to January 2021. The US labour market continued to reflect the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and measures to contain it.
US employment fell by 22.4 million in March and April combined. In January 2021, employment increased in professional and business services and education. Employment declined in leisure and hospitality, retail trade, health care, and transportation and warehousing in January 2021. Nonfarm employment in January 2021 was 6.5% (9.9 million) below its February 2020 level.
US unemployment rate declined by 0.4 percentage points to 6.3% in January 2021, the unemployment rate is 8.5 percentage points lower than recent high in April 2020. US unemployment was 10.1 million in January 2021. While unemployment decreased in previous months, the US unemployment rate remains 2.8 percentage points higher and the number of unemployed persons increased by 4.4 million since February 2020 due to COVID-19 and efforts to contain it.
US participation rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 61.4% of the working age population in January 2021, this is 1.9 percentage points below its February 2020 level.
US employment to population ratio edged up 0.1 percentage points to 57.5% in January 2021 but 3.6 percentage points lower than its February 2020 level.
Note: Canadian and US labour force statistics refer to different working-age cohorts.
Sources:
US Bureau of Labor Statistics news release, Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation
Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0287-01 Labour force characteristics, monthly, seasonally adjusted and trend-cycle
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