The Industries Adding the Most Jobs Now

• Author: Monica Jackson
• Posted: 2024-02-25

The jobs report that was released earlier this month in the United States, giving the breakdown of how many jobs were lost in May, was really shocking to almost everyone. Economists, politicians and pundits from all across the nation had predicted that America would lose another ten million jobs, at least, throughout the month of May. However, when the report came out, many were shocked to see that the United States had gained a net total of 2.5 million jobs. That actually means many more jobs were created than just 2.5 million. If there were eight million lost, that means 10.5 million were added. Though which industries are responsible for this turn in the opposite direction?

With nearly 1.4 million jobs added, the food industry really picked up. With quite a few states either reopening entirely or relaxing their restrictions on restaurants opening, over a million more people were allowed to go back to work, plus some people used grant money to open new restaurants. So this was a big boost for the American economy, not to mention that restaurants also help to ease angst and tension, as more people can get out and actually go eat.

Dentistry is another industry that added some jobs. Nearly 250,000 jobs were added because of dentist offices opening back up. Hospitals never shut down, but dentistry is considered an elective procedure. So as people were sitting home for months, they were missing their cleanings, and many needed root canals, fillings, and other dental work, so the industry was able to pick up quickly with people flooding into dentists’ offices to have work done.

Laundry services were another big player here, adding around 200,000 jobs. Since most laundry shops, such as laundromats and dry cleaners’ businesses are relatively small operations with only a few employees, this means that thousands of them opened up in towns and cities across the united states. With an industry like this, the impact is much bigger than the net total. People getting their clothes professionally cleaned is a good indicator that they’re going out to eat, to job interviews, back to work, etc. So, overall, this is great news.

Clothing stores, auto dealers, repair shops, and other small businesses are also among those that added tens of thousands of jobs to the economy. Overall, more jobs were added in May of 2020 than during any other one-month period in American history, including the DotCom boom and previous stimulus package spending. Though many want to know whether this means America is coming out of its recession, or if it’s just a good month.

What to Expect Going Forward

The truth is that it’s too early to tell whether this is a new trend or if it’s just an anomaly and will not be repeated. There are numerous variables here one must take into consideration. For instance, if the virus numbers spike again, and governments end up reinforcing the shut-downs and close the economy again, any progress will be lost and then some. Though when the June jobs report is released in the first week to July, we’ll see what’s happening. Since May’s report was so positive, most economists have now switched their tone and are starting to believe that we’ll see another net gain this month.

As far as bouncing back from recession on a global scale, other nations are starting to also get back to work. Canada, the UK and Sweden all saw slight increases during the month, despite the fact that coronavirus cases were still on the rise. It’s the same in America, in terms of rising cases. They’re rising, but they’re not increasing at a disproportionate percentage compared to lock-down numbers, but cases do continue to rise. The real issue here is that we cannot really tell is these are brand new cases, with people who just recently caught the virus, or if these are among the people who have had the virus for a while, with no symptoms or moderate symptoms, though are just now getting tested for it. It’s very difficult to tell.

The real issue here is that no one knows anything. While the novel coronavirus pandemic is certainly something humans have dealt with plenty, in terms of a virus pandemic, the fact is that nobody really knows anything about Covid-19. Information from experts has changed numerous times, depending on the information, and it got to the point where states had enough and just reopened, willing to risk the spread. This is why jobs were added, and why they could continue through June.