America Has Reversed Pandemic Job Losses But Some States Still Have To Catch Up

The US economy managed to regain 25 million jobs that it lost during two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, in July. However, in the District of Columbia and 31 other states, there are still large gaps between the current employment level and the pre-pandemic levels.

Considering New York, the state was below the pre-pandemic level by 327,800 jobs in August. The concept of remote work throughout the state has left the shops and businesses that served commuters gasping for air to stay afloat. According to a budget report that came out last month, there is a chance that New York will not recover its pre-pandemic employment levels until 2026.

The midwestern states have lost manufacturing and hospitality jobs thousands. Ohio is behind its pre-pandemic employment levels by 124,200 jobs. Pennsylvania is doing slightly better by falling behind only 111,300 jobs than it had in the pre-Covid days. Michigan and Illinois are following behind close by, with Michigan down by 96,000 jobs and Illinois by 76,400 jobs. These numbers come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics which compares employment in February 2020 with that of August 2022.

Some states of the South and West are having an influx of new residents and also a brighter jobs picture. Texas is over its pre-pandemic employment level by 563,900 jobs. Florida has managed to produce 371,900 jobs above what it had before Covid, with North Carolina adding 180,900 new jobs too. Georgia is above its pre-pandemic job level by 158,100) jobs and Utah has 104,700 jobs over the number before the pandemic.

With the increase of online shopping within the US, sectors such as transportation and warehousing have contributed to job growth in states that did not catch up with their pre-Covid job numbers. There are over 714,000 additional transportation and warehousing jobs across the states.

The numbers for leisure and hospitality jobs have taken a plunge in most states. These numbers decreased by 820,000 nationally. According to a report in April by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, Amazon and Walmart have hired hundreds of thousands of workers for warehouses and distribution centers.

In Ohio, leisure and hospitality jobs decreased by 38,200 while manufacturing jobs decreased by 17,800. But the number of transportation and warehousing jobs increased by 37,300. Texas managed to regain the jobs it lost during the pandemic quickly, by gaining more jobs than any other state since February 2020. Texas has recovered 1.4 million jobs that were lost by last December.

We can observe a correlation between population changes and job growth in most states. As the U.S. Census Bureau estimates, around 450,000 people left the Northeast between April 2020 and July 2021. 144,000 people left the Midwest while the South (960,000) and West (79,000) gained population.

Consumer spending will keep creating a good demand for goods, which will contribute to the creation of better-paying jobs.