Most Pandemic-Displaced Workers Were Back on Job by 2022
2022.08.26 18:54
Nearly two-thirds of US workers who lost longtime positions during the pandemic were already back to the labor force by January of this year, underscoring the swift job-market recovery.
Some 65% of so-called displaced workers — those who held their job for at least three years but were let go or left due to company closures or insufficient work — who lost their job between 2019 and 2021 were reemployed by early 2022, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday. The report showed 3.6 million Americans were displaced, up more than 900,000 from the prior survey conducted in 2020.
The labor market has remained a bright spot in what’s otherwise been an economy on shaky footing. The US recovered to its pre-pandemic level of total employment last month, and the unemployment rate stands at a 50-year low.
That said, older workers had a harder time getting back on the job. The reemployment rate for those at least 65 years old declined 15 percentage points from the 2020 survey, and the share that were no longer in the labor force increased by 12 percentage points to 61%.
Leisure and hospitality workers made up 16% of all those displaced in the survey, compared with just 5% in the prior data. Professional and business services, manufacturing and education and health services were also among the hardest-hit industries.
Reemployment declined significantly in leisure as well as retail trade, reflecting the slower recovery from the pandemic in those sectors, the BLS said.
