--- title: The Shocking News in the Unemployment Report description: The global economy faces an unprecedented challenge to recover the millions of jobs lost during the COVID-19 epidemic, but there is image: https://blog.capitalfund1.com/hubfs/Untitled%20design%20(2).png --- Still Making Loans, Still Closing on Time [COVID-19 Update](https://capitalfund1.com/covid-19-update/) [+ ](https://blog.capitalfund1.com/the-shocking-news-in-the-unemployment-report#) [+ ](https://blog.capitalfund1.com/the-shocking-news-in-the-unemployment-report#) [REQUEST INFO](https://capitalfund1.com/request-information) # The Shocking News in the Unemployment Report Last Friday, the *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics* released their May [*Employment Situation Summary*](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm)*. *Leading up to the release, most experts predicted the unemployment rate would jump up to approximately 20% from the 14.7% rate announced last month. The experts were shocked. The *Wall Street Journal* put it this [way](https://economics.cmail20.com/t/ViewEmail/d/6A743EE61457733D2540EF23F30FEDED/5323CD85A2087AFD22947492D9797BBC): > *“The May U.S. jobless rate fell to 13.3% and employers added 2.5 million jobs, blowing Wall Street expectations out of the water: Economists had forecast a loss of 8.3 million jobs and a 19.5% unemployment rate.”* In addition, CNBC [revealed](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/05/jobs-report-may-2020.html): > *“The May gain was by far the biggest one-month jobs surge in U.S. history since at least 1939.”* Here are some of the job gains by sector: - Food Service and Bartenders – 1,400,000 - Construction – 464,000 - Education and Health Services – 424,000 - Retail – 368,000 - Other Services – 272,000 - Manufacturing – 225,000 - Professional Services – 127,000 There’s still a long way to go before the economy fully recovers, as 21 million Americans remain unemployed. That number is down, however, from 23 million just last month. And, of the 21 million in the current report, 73% feel their layoff is temporary. This aligns with a recent *Federal Reserve Bank* [report](https://www.frbatlanta.org/blogs/macroblog/2020/05/01/covid-19-caused-3-new-hires-for-every-10-layoffs?mod=article_inline) that showed *employers* felt 75% of the job losses are temporary layoffs and furloughs. The *Employment Situation Summary* was definitely a pleasant surprise, and evidence that the country’s economic turnaround is underway. The data also offers a labor-market snapshot from mid-May, when the government conducted its monthly survey of households and businesses. Many states did not open for business until the second half of May. This bodes well for next month’s jobs report. ### **Bottom Line** We cannot rejoice over a report that reveals millions of American families are still without work. We can, however, feel relieved that we are headed in the right direction, and much more quickly than most anticipated. *Note: In its original report, the BLS explained that a misclassification error could have occurred over the last 3 months, starting in March of 2020. Readjusting for this error, the unemployment rate would actually show a drop from 19.7% in April to 16.3% in May. Nobody would say the original report of 13.3% unemployment was a good number, nor is the revised 16.3%. What is a positive move for our country and the economy is the significant drop in the rate from April to May, meaning more people are getting jobs than losing them.* On June 12, 2020   /   [Capital Fund I](https://blog.capitalfund1.com/tag/capital-fund-i) [Arizona real estate](https://blog.capitalfund1.com/tag/arizona-real-estate) [Real Estate News](https://blog.capitalfund1.com/tag/real-estate-news)   /   [Leave a comment](https://blog.capitalfund1.com/the-shocking-news-in-the-unemployment-report#comments-listing) ### Contact Capital Fund I [Back to Top](https://blog.capitalfund1.com/the-shocking-news-in-the-unemployment-report#) ### Contact Us ### Latest Posts - [![Two Reasons We Won’t See a Rush of Foreclosures This Fall](https://files.mykcm.com/2020/07/21114651/20200722-MEM-ENG.jpg) ](https://blog.capitalfund1.com/two-reasons-we-wont-see-a-rush-of-foreclosures-this-fall) [Two Reasons We Won’t See a Rush of Foreclosures This Fall](https://blog.capitalfund1.com/two-reasons-we-wont-see-a-rush-of-foreclosures-this-fall) The health crisis we face as a country has led businesses all over the nation to reduce or discontinue their services altogether. 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