The nation’s unemployment rate dropped from 10.2% to 8.4% between July and August as employers added 1.4 million jobs to the economy. That is below the Great Recession high of 10% unemployment in October 2009 and a little over half of the pandemic peak of 14.7% in April. There were 23.1 million people 16 and older who were unemployed and looking for jobs in April. That total dropped to 13.6 million in August.
The reasons for unemployment are also changing. About 78.3% of people unemployed in April lost their jobs in temporary layoffs, while 45.5% of those unemployed in August cited temporary job loss. Permanent job loss accounted for 30.6% of August unemployment, including 3.4 million people who lost year-round roles (up 534,000 from July), plus 736,000 Americans who completed temporary work.
