If we weren’t having to deal with the Coronavirus, we would be celebrating the record-shattering start to 2020 for jobs. Both January and February provided blowout job gains. The news was exceptional pretty much across the board. Of course, these numbers are about what’s already happened and the biggest concerns are what’s happening right now. It’s valid. But it’s also good to know that we went into the virus threat with as much positive economic momentum as we could have ever hoped for. If we can turn the corner on the virus within the next few weeks, the economy should be able to weather the storm. Otherwise, there’s room for concern about job losses. As I’ve mentioned when discussing the Coronavirus and the economy, the one stat to watch above all others are jobs.
Let’s take a look at where we were coming out of February. The unemployment rate at 3.5%, adding over 273,000 jobs. There were also positive revisions from previous months adding 85,000 jobs! The top industries for hiring were food services, government, and construction. It's important to note the revisions and that the real number was over 358,000 jobs added. That means we’re off to one of the top three starts to a year in recorded American history and construction jobs are off to their biggest gains to start a year on record with huge gains in January and February.
Now, the real unemployment rate once underemployed, long-term unemployed and marginally attached people are accounted for is actually 7% down from 7.4% year over year. That means record gains, the lowest unemployment rate in over 50 years and the breadth of the gains was exceptional. Again, minus corona concerns, we’d be talking about the stunning strength of the US economy. Plus, those unaccounted for in the base unemployment rate include 6.8 million Americans and the labor participation rate held steady continuing the year over year improvement with more people joining the workforce with unprecedented opportunity.