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Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 379,000 in February 2021 but is down by 9.5 million, or 6.2 percent, from its level before the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020. Employment in leisure and hospitality increased by 355,000, as pandemic-related restrictions eased in some parts of the country. Employment also rose in professional and business services (+63,000), education and health services (+44,000), and retail trade (+41,000) in February.
Industry | 1-month net change | 12-month net change | 1-month percent change | 12-month percent change | February 2021 employment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total nonfarm |
379,000 | -9,475,000 | 0.3% | -6.2% | 143,048,000 |
Mining and logging |
-8,000 | -101,000 | -1.3 | -14.6 | 589,000 |
Logging |
100 | -2,100 | 0.2 | -4.3 | 46,600 |
Mining |
-8,200 | -98,500 | -1.5 | -15.4 | 542,400 |
Construction |
-61,000 | -308,000 | -0.8 | -4.0 | 7,340,000 |
Construction of buildings |
2,000 | -30,500 | 0.1 | -1.8 | 1,664,100 |
Heavy and civil engineering construction |
-20,800 | -78,200 | -2.0 | -7.0 | 1,032,600 |
Specialty trade contractors |
-42,200 | -199,100 | -0.9 | -4.1 | 4,643,500 |
Manufacturing |
21,000 | -561,000 | 0.2 | -4.4 | 12,238,000 |
Durable goods |
17,000 | -407,000 | 0.2 | -5.1 | 7,600,000 |
Nondurable goods |
4,000 | -154,000 | 0.1 | -3.2 | 4,638,000 |
Wholesale trade |
3,600 | -260,500 | 0.1 | -4.4 | 5,634,700 |
Durable goods |
-1,400 | -132,100 | 0.0 | -4.1 | 3,085,700 |
Nondurable goods |
6,300 | -92,600 | 0.3 | -4.3 | 2,070,800 |
Electronic markets and agents and brokers |
-1,300 | -35,800 | -0.3 | -7.0 | 478,200 |
Retail trade |
41,100 | -362,600 | 0.3 | -2.3 | 15,247,200 |
Motor vehicle and parts dealers |
6,600 | -92,400 | 0.3 | -4.5 | 1,951,100 |
Building material and garden supply stores |
-2,200 | 132,000 | -0.2 | 10.2 | 1,425,000 |
Food and beverage stores |
9,800 | 88,500 | 0.3 | 2.9 | 3,163,400 |
Health and personal care stores |
11,900 | -43,800 | 1.2 | -4.2 | 989,400 |
Clothing and clothing accessories stores |
-20,000 | -294,400 | -2.0 | -23.2 | 976,200 |
General merchandise stores |
14,400 | 103,800 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 3,103,200 |
Transportation and warehousing |
4,400 | -164,700 | 0.1 | -2.8 | 5,658,400 |
Air transportation |
-8,200 | -112,200 | -2.0 | -21.7 | 404,700 |
Truck transportation |
-4,000 | -49,100 | -0.3 | -3.2 | 1,475,700 |
Transit and ground passenger transportation |
8,600 | -126,100 | 2.4 | -25.6 | 366,600 |
Support activities for transportation |
500 | -73,900 | 0.1 | -9.7 | 690,800 |
Couriers and messengers |
9,000 | 147,500 | 0.9 | 16.7 | 1,030,300 |
Warehousing and storage |
-1,100 | 88,500 | -0.1 | 6.7 | 1,416,200 |
Utilities |
-400 | -8,600 | -0.1 | -1.6 | 538,800 |
Information |
-3,000 | -248,000 | -0.1 | -8.5 | 2,666,000 |
Publishing industries, except Internet |
-2,500 | -22,800 | -0.3 | -2.9 | 762,500 |
Motion picture and sound recording industries |
-900 | -187,700 | -0.4 | -42.5 | 254,200 |
Broadcasting, except Internet |
1,100 | -15,400 | 0.4 | -5.8 | 248,800 |
Telecommunications |
-3,400 | -24,500 | -0.5 | -3.5 | 683,500 |
Data processing, hosting and related services |
1,800 | -7,600 | 0.5 | -2.1 | 355,400 |
Other information services |
1,400 | 9,800 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 361,800 |
Financial activities |
-5,000 | -105,000 | -0.1 | -1.2 | 8,770,000 |
Finance and insurance |
-1,400 | 23,600 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 6,537,000 |
Real estate and rental and leasing |
-4,300 | -129,000 | -0.2 | -5.5 | 2,232,600 |
Professional and business services |
63,000 | -771,000 | 0.3 | -3.6 | 20,698,000 |
Professional and technical services |
22,800 | -130,600 | 0.2 | -1.3 | 9,578,100 |
Management of companies and enterprises |
-1,800 | -93,300 | -0.1 | -3.8 | 2,331,700 |
Administrative and waste services |
41,400 | -547,000 | 0.5 | -5.9 | 8,787,800 |
Education and health services |
44,000 | -1,298,000 | 0.2 | -5.3 | 23,267,000 |
Health care |
19,900 | -577,600 | 0.1 | -3.5 | 15,914,500 |
Educational services |
-2,400 | -389,800 | -0.1 | -10.3 | 3,388,900 |
Social assistance |
25,700 | -331,200 | 0.7 | -7.7 | 3,963,200 |
Leisure and hospitality |
355,000 | -3,451,000 | 2.7 | -20.4 | 13,464,000 |
Arts, entertainment, and recreation |
33,000 | -774,300 | 1.9 | -30.9 | 1,727,600 |
Accommodation and food services |
321,600 | -2,676,600 | 2.8 | -18.6 | 11,736,300 |
Other services |
10,000 | -446,000 | 0.2 | -7.5 | 5,491,000 |
Repair and maintenance |
-8,900 | -60,200 | -0.7 | -4.4 | 1,303,900 |
Personal and laundry services |
15,100 | -247,300 | 1.2 | -15.8 | 1,318,800 |
Membership associations and organizations |
3,600 | -138,400 | 0.1 | -4.6 | 2,868,500 |
Government |
-86,000 | -1,389,000 | -0.4 | -6.1 | 21,446,000 |
Federal |
-3,000 | 2,000 | -0.1 | 0.1 | 2,865,000 |
State government |
-39,000 | -358,000 | -0.8 | -6.8 | 4,945,000 |
Local government |
-44,000 | -1,033,000 | -0.3 | -7.0 | 13,636,000 |
In February, employment decreased in local government (−44,000) and state government (−39,000). Pandemic-related employment declines in 2020 distorted the normal seasonal buildup and layoff patterns in education, making it more challenging to discern the current employment trends in these industries.
From February 2020 to February 2021, employment fell across all major industries. Employment in leisure and hospitality declined over the year by 3.5 million, or 20.4 percent. Education and health services lost 1.3 million jobs, with nearly half (578,000) of these losses in health care.
Within professional and business services, employment in administrative and waste services fell by 547,000 since February 2020.
Employment in retail trade declined by 363,000 in the last 12 months. Following steep job losses in March and April 2020 (−2.4 million jobs over the 2 months combined), retail trade has added 2.0 million jobs from May 2020 through February 2021.
Employment in mining and logging decreased over the year by 101,000, or 14.6 percent. After an employment peak in January 2019, mining has lost 153,000 jobs, with nearly two-thirds of the loss occurring since February 2020.
These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent 2 months are preliminary. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — February 2021." Also see more charts of national employment, hours, and earnings data and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the February data.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Payroll employment up by 379,000 in February; down 9.5 million in the last 12 months at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/payroll-employment-up-by-379000-in-february-down-9-5-million-in-the-last-12-months.htm (visited October 31, 2024).