Economic Blog

Following the massive beat in May nonfarm payrolls, many wondered if last month’s job gains pulled forward hiring ahead of the expiration of the Paycheck Protection Program to ensure small business loans were forgivable. Recall that the US labor market added 2.5 million jobs in May (revised up to 2.7 million in the June report) versus Bloomberg consensus expectations for a loss of 7.5 million jobs.

The June report helped put those concerns to rest, as the US economy added 4.8 million jobs, surpassing Bloomberg’s median consensus estimate of 3.2 million. As shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, nonfarm payrolls have been on a wild ride in 2020:

View enlarged chart.

However, despite surpassing expectations in the headline numbers, the June report also revealed that permanent job losses continue to tick higher. “Job growth remains the key to the economic recovery,” added LPL Chief Investment Officer Burt White. “The pandemic has been a major shock to the labor market that will take time to heal, but the solid job gains over the past two months suggest the recovery is well on its way and the recession may already be over.”

The unemployment rate dropped more than two points to 11.1% versus consensus of 12.5%, while misclassifications around the “absent from work but employed” issue would add only one point (compared with three points last month). Although the June report was a much smaller upside surprise than last month’s shocker, the job market is clearly coming back stronger than most economists expected.

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