- Nine states and Washington, D.C., have not recovered all the jobs lost in the first months of the pandemic.
- By this indicator, the country’s capital ranks last in the country.
- But nationally, employment growth has been strong since the pandemic reshaped the economy.
In the two months since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic hit the United States in the spring of 2020, approximately 22 million jobs were lost in the United States. It took 29 months for the country as a whole to fully recover these jobs. But the recovery is uneven. While certain places have welcomed many new residents and increased salaries, other states and cities have struggled to restore their pre-pandemic economies.
The nation’s capital is faring the worst, being the slowest of any state in the country to recover jobs lost in the first months of the pandemic.
As of October 2023, D.C. has only recovered 64% of the jobs it lost in March and April 2020, while 41 states have recovered all of their losses, with some states losing more than 64% of the jobs they lost in March and April 2020. Employment is rapidly increasing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Monthly estimates of state employment.
Hawaii, Rhode Island, Maryland, Vermont, Louisiana, New York, West Virginia, North Dakota and Michigan also have not recovered all of the jobs lost to the pandemic.
The uneven employment recovery has a lot to do with where people have chosen to move since the virus hit the country economically. Many of those who have transitioned to remote or hybrid work are leaving cities like Washington, San Francisco, and New York for more affordable, warmer, or otherwise more attractive regions in the South, Southwest, and Mountain West. I moved to
Idaho and Utah have seen some of the highest job gains in the country since the early months of the pandemic. Texas, Florida and North Carolina had the next largest increases.
One of the main reasons for Washington, D.C.’s particularly dismal employment numbers is low downtown office occupancy.The city has long relied heavily on commuters from outside the district, many of whom now work remotely, but especially federal employees. slow to return To work with people.
“Less commuters mean fewer people are buying goods and services at D.C.’s stores, restaurants and businesses,” said Daniel Burge, an economic policy expert at the D.C. Policy Center.
The nation’s capital has also seen a decline in federal employment in the city in recent years. The region will lose an additional 8,000 federal jobs in the coming months. According to researchers at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.
“The federal government, at least in conventional wisdom, has traditionally acted as a buffer for D.C. during recessions. It would act in a counter-cyclical manner, but I don’t think that’s the case at this point,” Burge said. Ta.
Like many other cities, Leisure and hospitality sector has also been hit hard.However, jobs in the professional and business services sector is also struggling.
The pain of job losses due to the pandemic is not being felt evenly across city residents. Washington, D.C., has the worst racial unemployment gap in the country between black and white residents. According to the report, the city’s black unemployment rate in 2022 was seven times higher than the white unemployment rate. DC Fiscal Policy Institute.
Watch now: Popular videos from Insider Inc.
Loading…