U.S. Added 1.8 Million Jobs in July

Special Desk

The US employers added 1.8 million jobs in July despite a coronavirus surge. Wealthy families are throwing a lifeline to distressed businesses.

Though jobs remained far below pre-pandemic levels yet the American economy gained 1.8 million jobs last month, even as the coronavirus surged in many parts of the country and newly reintroduced restrictions caused businesses to close for a second time.

Still, the increase reported Friday by the Labor Department was well below the 4.8 million jump in jobs in June and a sign that momentum is slowing after a burst of economic activity in late spring. The unemployment rate fell to 10.2 percent.

“The labor market continues to heal, which is encouraging, but there is a long road ahead,” said Michelle Meyer, head of US economics at Bank of America.

She noted that 42%t of the jobs lost since the pandemic hit had now been recovered, but warned the remainder would be harder to make up. “In the very early stages of the recovery it’s easier to bring back workers quickly just to have a functioning operation,” she said. “It’s not a snap back to pre-Covid levels by any means. It’s a healing process.”

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The Labor Department’s U-6 measure, which includes discouraged workers who have given up the search for work as well as those who are in part-time jobs because they can’t find full-time positions, stands at 16.5%.

The U-6 figure has come down from 22.8 percent in April. Still, the U-6 is among a series of data points that underscore just how difficult the labour market remains for those out of work.

During the pandemic, wealthy families have continued to use their investment pools, known as family offices, to gain access to the type of high-return opportunities once reserved for institutional investors. But they are taking a more hands-on role in those financial decisions.

These family offices have chosen to bypass private equity and venture capital funds — which have high minimum investments and sizable fees — to invest directly in companies, either by themselves or with other significantly wealthy families, a report released on Friday found.