Dan Celia for FISM News 

The good news that no one has reported is that 86% of our workforce is working. 

We very unexpectedly added jobs in May after suffering record losses in the prior month, offering the clearest signal yet that the downturn triggered by the COVID-19 was winding down. The road to full recovery will be long, but this great job number is about a month earlier than anybody expected, which says that things are getting better fast.

The Labor Department’s employment report showed the jobs rate falling to 13.3% last month from 14.7% in April, a post-World-War-II high.  The report followed on the heels of surveys showing consumer confidence, manufacturing, and services industries stabilizing. Businesses have reopened after shuttering in mid-March to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The survey of establishments showed nonfarm payrolls rose by 2.509 million last month after a record plunge of 20.7 million in April. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls falling by 8 million jobs. They had expected the survey of households to show the unemployment rate jumping to 19.8%. Economists polled believe the unemployment rate peaked in May, but see it remaining above 10% when Americans head to the polls on November 3rd. I am not so sure about that, and I would not be surprised to see a September or October number below 10%. 

The good news that no one has reported is that 86% of our workforce is working. 

 Sourced Reuters, BLS, Dept. of Labor