U.S. economy grabs back 1.8 million jobs in July

The U.S. economy continued to chip away at the economic damage inflicted by the Coronavirus, as 1.8 million people regained jobs in July, bringing the jobless rate down to 10.2 percent, but still leaving millions of Americans out of work from the virus outbreak.

The jobless rate has declined from 14.4 percent at its height in April, as 9.3 million jobs have been gained in the past three months.

But that still does not offset the over 22 million Americans who lost work in March and April at the start of the virus attack, as the Coronavirus has caused a net loss of nearly 13 million jobs.

Even at the reduced level of 10.2 percent, the jobless rate remains at a 37 year high, going back to March of 1983.

Republicans hailed the third straight month of jobs growth as evidence that the economy is recovering.

“Our economy is continuing to make good progress. Jobs jobs jobs!” tweeted Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL).

“Great jobs numbers!” President Trump tweeted from his New Jersey golf retreat.

But the fine print of the latest jobless report was another grim reminder of the millions of Americans who have been knocked off course by the Coronavirus outbreak.

Of the 21 million people who lost jobs in March and April as the nation closed down economically, almost 13 million still have not found work.

That’s true for people not only for people working full-time, but also those Americans who normally just work part-time as well.

Figures from the Labor Department show those workers lost 8.5 million part time jobs in March and April, and have now recovered 4.8 million of those jobs.

There were also hints of possible trouble ahead for the economy in the details of the jobs report, as the size of the labor force shrank by 62,000 people in July, seemingly indicating that some Americans had given up searching for work.

The number of people unemployed for less than five weeks went up in July by 364,000, which could reflect a new round of job reductions this summer, as some states again instituted Coronavirus restrictions on businesses.