Adding 2.5M Jobs
The May jobs report was a breath of fresh air after weeks of stifling pessimism, including from some Fed officials. While the report doesn’t mean the economy is completely out of the woods, it does suggest that the devastation for workers is less than feared. Before the release, nonfarm payrolls were expected to contract by 30 million since February; now it looks like the loss will be limited to (a still-awful) 22 million in March and April. The report showed a broad-based 2.5 million upturn in employment and a 1.4-ppt drop in the jobless rate to 13.3%. The biggest surprise was a partial reversal of job losses in two of the hardest hit sectors— leisure and hospitality, and food services—though they still only retraced a fraction of earlier losses.
Markets Total Recovery
