Reprinted from The Economic Policy Institute by Elise Gould on June 4, 2021.
EPI economists offer their initial insights on the May jobs report below. While they see strong growth in employment, including in leisure and hospitality, the US labor market is still facing a large jobs shortfall. Relief and recovery measures—including expanded unemployment benefits—should be sustained for workers and their families as the economy continues to recover. …
[An increase of] 559k jobs in May is slightly better than the average growth of the prior 3 months. If this pace continues over the next year, we will likely get down to 4% unemployment by mid-2022 and will be fully recovered before the end of 2022, fully absorbing losses plus population growth. …
