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May 9, 2022 - Economy & Business

Which industries are leading the pandemic jobs recovery

Emily Peck
Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Chart: Jared Whalen/Axios

Some sectors bounced back to pre-pandemic levels faster than others, as evidenced by this nifty chart comparing details of the April 2022 jobs report to February 2020.

The big picture: The total number of U.S. jobs hasn’t yet climbed back to pre-pandemic levels. But underneath the headline, areas of the economy like professional services, or transportation and warehousing, have recovered any ground they lost in the pandemic — and then some.

  • Others, not so much: Employment in the leisure and hospitality sector is still down by 1.4 million — or 8.5% — from its pre-pandemic level in February 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • That could be as much about the labor shortage as anything else. Job growth was strong in the sector in April and wages are up 8.4% from last year.
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