Below, EPI economists offer their initial insights on the July jobs report released today, which showed an increase in 943,000 jobs. They see strong growth in employment, including in leisure and hospitality, and an economic recovery on track to pre-COVID health by the end of 2022. 

From EPI senior economist, Elise Gould (@eliselgould):

Read the full twitter thread here. 

After ticking up in June, the unemployment rate fell for the right reasons in July as more people found work rather than left the labor force.

The unemployment rate fell for all race/ethnic groups in July, but the unemployment rate for Black male workers remains high at 8.4%. pic.twitter.com/CONN2kcadk

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) August 6, 2021

From EPI senior economist and director of policy, Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz):

Read the full Twitter thread here. 

There is still a big gap in the labor market, but even with some slowing from this pace of job growth, we will be back to pre-COVID health by the end of 2022—a recovery *five times* as fast as the recovery following the Great Recession, thanks to the vaccine and to the ARP. 2/ pic.twitter.com/if03xjeJpf

— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) August 6, 2021

Leisure and hospitality grew by 380,000 in July. Over the last four months, leisure & hospitality has added 1.4 million jobs—half of the 2.8 million total jobs added over that period. Can we put all the talk of a huge damaging labor shortage to rest NOW? 4/

— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) August 6, 2021

Looking at wage growth of nonsupervisory workers by sector, you do NOT see evidence of widespread labor shortages in today’s labor market. In the vast majority of sectors, wages are roughly what you’d expect if COVID hadn’t happened. Seriously, look at this chart. 7/ pic.twitter.com/u0fFEpRgcH

— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) August 6, 2021

Seasonally adjusted job growth in State & Local govt was very strong in July (+222,000) but we need much, much more. We’re still down 807,000 S&L govt jobs since Feb ‘20—much of that, 375,000, in education. It’s crucial S&L governments use their ARP funds to refill those jobs.14/

— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) August 6, 2021