Further Slowdown in Job Creation Sets Off Economic Alarms

He plans to add several thousand workers over the next six months, some in permanent positions.

Last year, when the unemployment rate had settled below 4 percent, news that employers had added nearly a quarter of million people to payrolls in a single month would have been greeted with enthusiasm. But circumstances have changed radically in a short time.

Now millions more people are unemployed. And the broadest measure of joblessness, which includes workers who have part-time work but would prefer full-time employment or have given up the job hunt, has been at 12 percent for two months.

If job creation doesn’t pick up, it will take more than three years to get back to where the labor market was before the pandemic hit.

Wendi Wilson, 54, has been out of work since March. She had worked for six years as a brand ambassador helping companies sell products at conferences on the Las Vegas Strip, making roughly $35,000 a year.

Her state unemployment benefit amounted to $115 a week, which was augmented for a while by a $600 federal supplement before it ran out in the summer.

That left Ms. Wilson struggling to pay the $1,170 rent for her two-bedroom apartment in Summerlin, Nev., and a $460 monthly car payment.

In August, her unemployment benefits stopped, but she said she hadn’t been able to reach the unemployment office to get the extension she is entitled to. So Ms. Wilson has been using her savings to pay bills, including cashing in her retirement account. She is also relying on donations from friends.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/business/economy/november-jobs-report.html