According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers added 49,000 jobs to payrolls in January, recovering 22% of jobs lost in December. Total employment remained down by 9.9 million jobs — or around 6% — compared to February 2020. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate dropped from 6.7% to 6.3% between December and January. A total of 10.1 million Americans were looking for work last month, compared to 10.7 million at the end of last year.
But around 4 million or 40% of those unemployed Americans in January had been without a job for at least 27 weeks. That is the largest number of Americans facing long-term unemployment since the pandemic began, meaning that more Americans than ever have likely used the last of their regular state unemployment benefits. Most states only cover unemployment insurance for 13 to 26 weeks.
