SPN’s new State Job Report shows that while states are adding back some jobs lost during the pandemic, there’s still ground to make up to get states back to pre-pandemic employment numbers.
September payroll jobs summary
- Florida (+1.0%), Texas (+0.8%), and Oklahoma (+0.8%) led September job creation.
- Texas (+95,800) and Florida (+84,500) accounted for the majority of national job creation in September.
- Despite leading job creation for several months in 2021, California remains nearly 1 million jobs away from a full recovery.
Pandemic jobs recovery summary
- The United States lost 22 million jobs from February 2020-April 2020.
- 8.2 million lost jobs were in Leisure and Hospitality, the hardest-hit sector.
- The U.S. is currently 4.7 million jobs below pre-pandemic levels.
September Job Report: 5 Key Takeaways
- States that enacted fewer economic restrictions have outperformed states enacted prolonged shutdowns and anti-growth policies.
- The top 10 states for recovering their pre-pandemic job counts all embrace economic freedom.
- Utah and Idaho have surpassed to their pre-pandemic jobs count. Arizona and Texas will reach their pre-pandemic jobs count in 2021.
- Hawaii, Nevada, and Florida experienced disproportionate job losses due to their dependence on the leisure and hospitality sector. Energy-dependent states also took a outsized hit.
- Fewer restrictions, lower taxes, and common-sense regulations have resulted in stronger recoveries and more economic opportunity in conservative states.
