Table 1
Labor Market (Population 16 years or older)
September (Numbers in thousands)
Indicator		2020
Total Population 16 years or older		260,819
Employed		147,563
Unemployed		12,580
Labor Force = Employed + Unemployed		160,143
Not in Labor Force		100,676
Unemployment Rate = Unemployed / Labor Force		7.86%
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey and Economic no nonsense calculations.
Note 1: Data is seasonnally adjusted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Note 2: Number of Jobs Lost and Population 16 years or older were calculated by Economic no nonsense.

The Current Labor Market

October 2, 2020

Since the advent of the COVID-19 virus human suffering has escalated throughout the world but in particular in the United States, country that has so far suffered the largest number of casualties (206,402) as of yesterday according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The World Health Organization. In addition to the human suffering brought about by the disease itself, it has launched all types of negative externalities in particular on the economy.

The forced closing of entire sectors of the economy in order to control the proliferation of the virus and the multiplication of human casualties caused probably the quickest drop in economic growth ever observed in this country thereby adding another factor of suffering to a population already stressed by the health crisis. In particular, the unemployment rate increased from 3.5% in February to a high of 14.7% in April gradually declining to the 8.4% observed in August of 2020.

Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the employment situation (Table 1) observed in September of 2020. The data released implies (Economic no nonsense calculations) an approximate underlying population of males and females 16 years or older of 260.8 million persons. Out of those, 61.4% were part of the labor force indicating, in general terms, that these were people either employed or looking for work. Indeed, only 92.14% of those in the labor force had a job (the employment rate) implying that the unemployment rate reached 7.86% (100% - 92.14%) last month.

Still, the unemployment rate by itself does not tell the whole story of the labor market tribulations without taking into account many other dimensions of it. In fact, the labor force must be examined from different perspectives and not just from the point of view of the unemployment rate which is just one of many facets of the labor market and the population. It is impossible to get an approximation to the suffering brought about by the current economic crisis without considering the size of the labor force and the number of jobs lost until now.

Further factors that should be considered, to name a few, must be the intertemporal, racial, cultural and gender dimensions of the working population. In other words, effects like how does this labor market compare to the past or the effects of the employment crisis and the recession in terms of race, culture, gender or other factors.

Through time and across dimensions the analysis could be conducted in order to determine whether the consequences have been evenly distributed or if there have been groups more negatively affected thus facilitating a better understanding of the human suffering endured through this pandemic and accompanying recession.