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In November 2022, nonfarm employment 100.7 percent of pre-pandemic level

December 09, 2022

In November 2022, total nonfarm employment increased by 263,000 to reach 100.7 percent of its level in February 2020, the month before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recession that resulted from it. In April 2020, nonfarm employment was 85.6 percent of its level 2 months earlier.

Index of total nonfarm employment, by industry, January 2020–November 2022 (February 2020 = 100.0)
Month Total nonfarm Total private Mining and logging Construction Manufacturing Wholesale trade Retail trade Transportation and warehousing Utilities

Jan 2020

99.8 99.8 99.7 99.4 100.0 100.1 100.0 100.1 100.0

Feb 2020

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Mar 2020

99.0 98.9 98.1 99.0 99.5 99.7 99.4 99.9 100.0

Apr 2020

85.6 83.8 89.7 85.5 89.3 93.1 85.6 91.3 99.3

May 2020

87.3 86.2 86.7 91.9 91.2 93.4 87.8 91.8 99.1

Jun 2020

90.3 89.7 84.7 94.0 93.8 94.1 92.9 94.0 98.6

Jul 2020

91.2 90.7 83.1 94.4 94.1 93.8 94.5 95.1 98.6

Aug 2020

92.3 91.6 82.1 94.7 94.3 94.0 96.5 96.6 99.0

Sep 2020

92.9 92.4 81.8 95.0 94.6 94.4 96.5 97.8 99.3

Oct 2020

93.3 93.0 81.0 95.7 94.8 94.6 96.9 99.1 99.0

Nov 2020

93.5 93.3 80.8 95.9 95.1 94.8 96.9 100.6 99.0

Dec 2020

93.4 93.2 80.8 96.5 95.3 95.0 97.3 100.9 98.9

Jan 2021

93.8 93.5 79.6 96.5 95.3 95.2 97.7 101.5 99.1

Feb 2021

94.2 94.1 79.0 95.9 95.6 95.4 98.0 102.6 99.1

Mar 2021

94.7 94.6 80.3 97.2 96.0 95.6 98.3 103.5 99.2

Apr 2021

94.9 94.7 80.8 97.0 95.7 95.8 98.3 103.5 99.3

May 2021

95.2 95.0 81.6 96.8 96.0 96.0 98.2 104.0 99.1

Jun 2021

95.5 95.4 82.5 96.8 96.1 96.3 98.6 104.6 99.0

Jul 2021

96.0 95.9 82.9 97.0 96.6 96.6 98.7 105.3 99.0

Aug 2021

96.3 96.3 83.7 97.0 96.9 96.7 99.0 105.8 98.7

Sep 2021

96.6 96.6 84.0 97.4 97.1 96.8 99.3 106.5 98.6

Oct 2021

97.0 97.1 84.3 97.8 97.5 97.0 99.6 107.3 98.6

Nov 2021

97.5 97.6 84.8 98.4 97.9 97.3 99.7 108.0 98.5

Dec 2021

97.9 98.1 86.0 99.0 98.2 97.6 100.0 108.4 98.4

Jan 2022

98.2 98.4 86.0 99.1 98.4 97.8 100.8 109.3 98.5

Feb 2022

98.7 99.0 87.5 99.8 98.8 98.2 101.5 110.6 98.5

Mar 2022

98.9 99.3 88.2 100.1 99.2 98.7 101.3 110.6 98.4

Apr 2022

99.2 99.6 89.4 100.0 99.7 99.2 101.3 111.5 98.6

May 2022

99.4 99.8 90.4 100.4 99.9 99.4 101.1 112.1 98.7

Jun 2022

99.6 100.1 91.5 100.6 100.1 99.5 101.2 112.4 98.7

Jul 2022

100.0 100.4 92.3 100.9 100.4 99.8 101.3 112.7 98.9

Aug 2022

100.1 100.6 92.0 101.0 100.6 100.1 101.5 112.7 99.2

Sep 2022

100.3 100.8 92.4 101.3 100.8 100.2 101.3 112.4 99.2

Oct 2022

100.5 101.0 92.7 101.4 101.1 100.3 101.3 112.3 99.4

Nov 2022

100.7 101.2 93.1 101.7 101.2 100.3 101.1 112.0 99.3

Note: These data are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary.

Index of total nonfarm employment, by industry, January 2020–November 2022 (February 2020 = 100.0) … continued
Month Information Financial activities Professional and business services Educational services Health care and social assistance Arts, entertainment, and recreation Accommodation and food services

Jan 2020

99.8 99.6 99.9 99.9 99.7 99.7 99.3

Feb 2020

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Mar 2020

99.8 99.8 99.6 97.3 99.4 96.8 95.5

Apr 2020

91.0 96.8 89.2 86.2 88.9 48.3 52.3

May 2020

89.8 97.0 90.2 86.6 90.7 47.8 60.9

Jun 2020

90.4 97.2 91.9 88.6 93.0 56.9 71.6

Jul 2020

90.1 97.2 92.7 88.7 93.9 61.1 73.9

Aug 2020

90.9 97.5 93.6 90.3 94.5 62.0 75.7

Sep 2020

92.9 97.8 94.2 90.0 95.0 67.4 77.8

Oct 2020

92.9 98.0 95.2 90.1 95.5 69.5 79.0

Nov 2020

93.2 98.2 95.9 90.5 95.7 70.9 79.0

Dec 2020

93.7 98.3 96.7 88.9 96.0 68.3 76.2

Jan 2021

94.6 98.4 97.2 91.2 95.7 70.3 76.8

Feb 2021

95.0 98.4 97.7 91.7 96.0 71.8 79.2

Mar 2021

95.3 98.5 98.3 92.4 96.3 73.4 80.0

Apr 2021

96.0 98.6 97.9 92.8 96.4 75.2 81.1

May 2021

96.6 98.6 98.3 93.4 96.5 76.9 82.2

Jun 2021

97.1 98.6 98.6 93.9 96.5 78.4 83.5

Jul 2021

97.9 98.9 99.2 94.6 96.7 80.2 84.6

Aug 2021

98.7 99.0 99.6 95.0 96.7 81.9 85.7

Sep 2021

99.0 99.1 100.0 95.2 96.7 83.5 86.3

Oct 2021

99.4 99.4 101.1 96.0 96.9 84.8 87.0

Nov 2021

100.0 99.8 101.6 96.9 97.1 86.1 88.1

Dec 2021

100.3 99.9 102.0 97.5 97.3 87.6 89.2

Jan 2022

100.5 99.9 102.4 98.1 97.3 88.4 90.0

Feb 2022

100.5 100.3 102.8 98.4 97.8 89.3 90.7

Mar 2022

101.1 100.4 103.3 98.7 98.0 90.2 91.3

Apr 2022

101.9 100.7 103.4 99.0 98.2 90.5 91.6

May 2022

102.8 100.9 103.8 99.6 98.5 91.2 92.0

Jun 2022

103.7 100.9 104.2 99.9 98.9 91.7 92.2

Jul 2022

104.2 101.0 104.6 100.7 99.3 91.9 92.8

Aug 2022

104.4 101.1 104.7 101.0 99.6 92.1 92.8

Sep 2022

104.7 101.1 104.8 101.0 100.0 92.9 93.4

Oct 2022

104.9 101.3 105.0 101.2 100.4 93.1 93.8

Nov 2022

105.6 101.4 105.0 101.5 100.7 93.5 94.3

Note: These data are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary.

Index of total nonfarm employment, by industry, January 2020–November 2022 (February 2020 = 100.0) … continued
Month Other services Government Federal government State government Local government

Jan 2020

99.8 99.6 99.8 99.1 99.7

Feb 2020

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Mar 2020

98.5 99.8 100.6 98.8 100.0

Apr 2020

76.0 95.7 100.5 95.9 94.8

May 2020

79.9 93.6 100.6 95.7 91.5

Jun 2020

85.5 93.6 100.7 95.6 91.5

Jul 2020

87.8 94.0 101.6 95.7 91.9

Aug 2020

88.7 96.0 110.3 96.3 93.1

Sep 2020

89.4 95.8 109.1 96.1 93.1

Oct 2020

89.6 95.2 104.2 95.6 93.2

Nov 2020

89.6 94.8 101.2 95.6 93.3

Dec 2020

89.4 94.8 101.1 95.7 93.3

Jan 2021

89.5 95.2 100.9 97.1 93.5

Feb 2021

89.7 95.3 100.9 97.1 93.6

Mar 2021

90.0 95.5 100.9 97.4 93.8

Apr 2021

90.4 95.8 101.2 97.4 94.1

May 2021

90.7 96.1 101.0 98.5 94.2

Jun 2021

91.4 96.3 100.8 98.9 94.4

Jul 2021

92.0 96.5 100.9 98.7 94.8

Aug 2021

92.5 96.6 100.9 98.4 95.1

Sep 2021

92.7 96.6 100.8 98.4 95.2

Oct 2021

93.2 96.6 100.7 98.4 95.1

Nov 2021

93.8 96.7 100.8 98.3 95.3

Dec 2021

94.2 96.8 100.5 98.6 95.4

Jan 2022

94.3 96.8 100.6 98.3 95.6

Feb 2022

94.9 96.9 100.6 98.2 95.7

Mar 2022

95.2 96.9 100.5 98.2 95.8

Apr 2022

95.4 96.9 100.2 98.3 95.8

May 2022

95.5 97.2 100.2 99.0 95.9

Jun 2022

95.5 96.9 99.8 98.6 95.8

Jul 2022

95.8 97.3 100.1 98.8 96.3

Aug 2022

95.8 97.6 100.1 99.1 96.6

Sep 2022

96.3 97.6 100.2 99.3 96.5

Oct 2022

96.5 97.8 100.4 99.3 96.8

Nov 2022

96.9 98.0 100.3 99.5 97.0

Note: These data are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary.

Some industries had not yet returned to their pre-pandemic employment levels in November 2022. Among these were arts, entertainment, and recreation (93.5 percent) and accommodation and food services (94.3 percent). These two industries saw precipitous employment declines in the early months of the pandemic. In April 2020, employment in accommodation and food services was 52.3 percent of its pre-pandemic level, while employment in arts, entertainment, and recreation was 47.8 percent of its pre-pandemic level in May 2020.

Most other industries have surpassed their pre-pandemic employment levels. Though employment in transportation and warehousing declined by 15,000 in November 2022 and was down 38,000 from July 2022, its November 2022 employment level was 112.0 percent of its February 2020 level.

In November 2022, employment in information was 105.6 percent of its February 2020 level, while employment in professional and business services was 105.0 percent of its February 2020 level. Employment in retail trade (101.1 percent) and health care and social assistance (100.7) was also higher than before the pandemic.

In November 2022, federal government employment was 100.3 percent of its February 2020 level. State government employment was 99.5 percent of its February level in November 2022, while local government was 97.0 percent of what it was before the start of the pandemic.

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 — November 2022." Also see more charts of national employment, hours, and earnings data. These indexes use the February 2020 employment estimate as a base period; the index value for each month was calculated by dividing that month's employment estimate by the February 2020 estimate and then multiplying by 100.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, In November 2022, nonfarm employment 100.7 percent of pre-pandemic level at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/in-november-2022-nonfarm-employment-100-7-percent-of-pre-pandemic-level.htm (visited October 31, 2024).

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