Jobs are coming back, but not fast enough

The vast majority of Americans are still living in cities and states where there aren't enough jobs for the unemployed.

The big picture: The jobs landscape is improving — but not quickly enough, according to data on job postings from Indeed's Hiring Lab.

"The rate of improvement since August is disappointing compared to the more dramatic improvement we saw in May, June and July," says Jed Kolko, chief economist at Indeed.

• States with big cities are suffering more than those that are more rural because cities rely on restaurant, retail and hotel jobs. And Hawaii and D.C. are in the worst shape because of the decline of domestic and international tourism.
• Some states' job postings appear to have bounced back and are nearly on par with 2019 levels, but postings don't tell the whole story, says Kolko. Employment is down in every single state, per the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

The bottom line: "Even though each wave of the virus has affected different regions of the country, the economic pain has been fairly consistent," Kolko says. "The places with bigger drops in job postings and steeper job losses over the summer remain the places further behind today."