Labor market recovery slowed during the week of Feb. 7 through Feb. 13, according to Virginia Commonwealth University and Arizona State University economists.
Between early January and early February, employment held constant at 68.6%, which is 5.2% lower than it was in February 2020, according to the Real-Time Population Survey conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University assistant professor Adam Blandin and Arizona State associate professor Alexander Bick.
“Since October, employment has stopped recovering and has actually declined,” Blandin said in a statement. “We saw a continuation of this trend in February. This suggests that the early rapid recovery was only a partial one, and many workers who were working prior to the pandemic are still struggling to find work.”
