WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Layoffs in the United States fell in April, but remained the second highest on record, while hiring hit an all-time low, suggesting the labor market could take years to recover from the COVID-19 crisis despite a surprise rebound in employment in May.
FILE PHOTO: People who lost their jobs wait in line to file for unemployment following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an Arkansas Workforce Center in Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S. April 6, 2020. REUTERS/Nick Oxford
The report from the Labor Department on Tuesday also showed a decline in job openings as the economy battles a recession triggered by the pandemic. The National Bureau of Economic Research, the arbiter of U.S. recessions, declared on Monday that the economy slipped into recession in February.
“We may continue to see elevated rates of layoffs and job cuts continue to spread to other sectors, but the tidal wave of layoffs appears to be behind us,” said Nick Bunker, research director at Indeed Hiring Lab. “The labor market has a lot more progress to make.”
The monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed layoffs and discharges dropped 3.8 million in April to 7.7 million. That was second highest level since the government started tracking the series in 2000.
Prior to the pandemic, layoffs hovered around 1.8 million. They are nearly three tim