U.S. Labor Report: Retail Trade Sector Continues to Add Jobs

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Employment Situation Summary for August reporting that unemployment rose 0.2 percent over July. The unemployment rate is now 3.7 percent.

Key employment insights from the report:

• Retail trade added 44,000 jobs in August and 422,000 jobs over the past 12 months.
• Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 315,000 in August — it has now risen by 5.8 million over the past 12 months.
• In August, 1.9 million people said they had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic, down from 2.2 million in July.
• In August, 6.5 percent of employed persons teleworked because of the coronavirus pandemic, down from 7.1 percent in July.

The complete U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic report is downloadable here.