Image | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
The national monthly unemployment rate. Recessions are shaded.
August 7, 2020
National unemployment rate falls to 10.2% on new hiring
Photo | Grant Welker
Construction has continued this summer on a new student services building at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
The national unemployment rate fell in July to 10.2%, continuing a relative rebound at a time when the economy is still hampered by high coronavirus pandemic cases.
The latest numbers, reported Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, includes an increase of 1.8 million new workers in July. That's far less than the amount of new jobs added in May or June from the previous month: 2.7 million and 4.8 million, respectively.
Nonfarm employment in July stood at just under 118 million, a drop of 10.4 million or 8% from March. The unemployment rate of 10.2% is a month-to-month improvement of 0.9 percentage points.
Image | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
National monthly nonfarm employment. Recessions are shaded.
The number of unemployed people who were on temporary layoff decreased by 1.3 million to 9.2 — half of its April level, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
July's relative improvement in job creation came despite the pandemic whose case numbers soared nationally for most of the month. Employment was up in some of the industries hardest hit by the pandemic, including leisure and hospitality, retail and health care.
The June unemployment rate in Massachusetts was the nation's worst at 17.5%. The Worcester metropolitan area's unemployment rate is among the nation's worst at 15.8%.
State unemployment numbers for July are slated to be released Aug. 21.
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