Biden celebrates US job recovery 3:51
San Francisco (CNN Business) -
Job growth is outpacing economists' expectations, and there is still a long way to go - 6.8 million jobs - before the country's job market returns to low. levels prior to covid-19 However, economic recoveries are not the same, especially during a global pandemic that significantly altered the employment landscape.
Many businesses have reopened since vaccine availability increased, leading to an increase in customers, and demand is outstripping the supply of labor.
The millions of workers who were laid off or laid off are not immediately available to return.
While rising unemployment benefits have been cited as a reason for hiring difficulties, economists say it's not that straightforward: Some workers have moved to other locations or changed jobs.
Others have been limited by childcare needs and health problems;
and others have cited low wages and toxic workplaces as deterrents.
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Some of the worst hit sectors and industries are still trying to get out of very deep holes.
The majestic El Capitan Theater, in the heart of Hollywood, CA, ahead of a screening of "Raya and the Last Dragon," when theaters reopen on Friday, March 19, 2021.
"There are a number of industries that are certainly lagging behind or have a long way to go," Sarah House, a senior economist at Wells Fargo, told CNN Business.
To determine which sectors have the farthest way to go to reach their pre-pandemic employment levels, CNN Business analyzed data from the latest Current Employment Statistics survey from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. (BLS), which shows sector-level employment estimates through May 2021.
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Through this analysis, we determined the five industries with the highest percentage of job loss from February 2020 to May 2021.
Cinemas
February 2020: 144,200 jobs
May 2021: 53,300 jobs (-63%)
People love a good comeback story, and theaters across the country need one.
By the end of April 2020, virtually all indoor cinemas (except for some drive-ins) had closed their doors, and about 84% of theater employees were out of work, including the people who manage the ticket offices, the ushers who They rip the entrances and clean the rooms, the workers who deliver the buttered popcorn and the projectionists who make sure the movies run smoothly.
Many of those jobs have yet to return.
In May 2021, employment in the industry is still 63%, that is, 91,000 jobs below since the start of the pandemic.
The film industry has been disrupted.
Movie releases have been delayed, some productions had to stop, and streaming services have increased in popularity as people have taken refuge at home.
Commercial pressures related to the pandemic led to the closure of some movie theaters, including California's beloved ArcLight and Pacific Theaters networks, which were praised for their meticulous approach to showing films.
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Moviegoers sit in a seating arrangement with distancing measures at AMC Lincoln Square 13 theater on the first day of theaters reopening in New York, March 5, 2021. Theaters are reopening;
However, as of May 2021, industry employment is still 63%, or 91,000 jobs, below where it entered the pandemic.
However, overall, the jobs are starting to come back, and in a big way.
The sector has seen the largest percentage increase in employment, rising nearly 52% from January 2021 to 53,300 jobs in May 2021, according to BLS data.
"I think this was an industry that everyone thought was going to disappear, that the pandemic was going to kill cinema," said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at Comscore.
Then came the plot twist:
"And it hasn't happened," he said.
The lights came back on, the projectors have started buzzing again, and most of the cinemas have reopened.
Comscore estimates that as of early July, about 80% of North American theaters are running compared to the same period in 2019. Audiences returned to seeing blockbuster releases such as "F9" and "Black Widow," the latter with a Strong box office despite being available on Disney +.
There is optimism among larger networks such as AMC and Cinemark Holdings for higher box office performance and the ability to meet their staffing needs while operating more tightly, which could include hiring fewer staff. than before.
Law firms
February 2020: 107,900 jobs
May 2021: 47,100 jobs (-56%)
The gastronomic sector was the most affected by the pandemic, and high-level, communal and open-access law firms took the worst part.
The law firm business was completely shaken.
From its peak to its trough in February to April 2020, the cafeteria, law firm and barbecue industry lost 87% of its workforce, according to BLS data.
As restrictions have been relaxed and operators have adjusted business models to include modified self-service options, some jobs have returned.
But it is not known when, or even if, they will reach pre-pandemic levels.
From March 10, 2020 to July 9, 2021, around 30% of the 2,239 buffet restaurants tracked by the food industry analytics company Datassential have closed permanently.
That's compared to 12.6% of the 793,244 restaurants that Datassential monitors, said Mark Brandau, the firm's group manager.
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Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes threw in the towel in May 2020, definitively closing their 97 restaurants.
Several other buffet restaurant chains, such as Old Country Buffet and Cici's, have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to allow for the reorganization of their businesses.
"Law firms were probably one of the most vulnerable places," said David Henkes, senior director and head of strategic partnerships at Technomic, a Chicago-based foodservice research and consulting firm.
"The sector has had problems long before the pandemic."
The concept has waned in recent years due to a number of factors, Vox reported, pointing to challenges such as cost of food, waste, increasing competition from fast food restaurants and health and safety concerns.
Federal data from the United States Census Bureau shows a steady decline in the number of coffee shops, steakhouses and buffets, from about 7,350 establishments in 2007 to less than 5,500 in 2019.
Limousine service
February 2020: 36,800 jobs
May 2021: 18,200 (-51%)
On February 19, 2020, RMA Worldwide Chauffeured Transportation finalized an acquisition that would make it one of the largest private ground transportation companies in the country.
RMA was poised for a record first quarter, said CEO Robert Alexander, who founded Rockville, Maryland-based RMA in 1988.
Then the covid-19 arrived.
"Imagine your car is going 100 miles per hour and your brakes lock up," said Alexander, who is also president of the National Limousine Association.
In April 2020, NLA member companies reported a 90% decline in revenue, Alexander said.
In the weeks and months that followed, Alexander helped members cut costs, while RMA did the same: it was forced to cut its 1,400-person staff by 80%.
The company also reduced its fleet of 900 vehicles by more than half.
"The situation was horrible," Alexander said.
"It really sucked. We had a lot of people that we really cared about."
In the middle of last year, the number of jobs in the limousine sector fell by almost 58% from the total of 36,800 in February 2020. Employment has slowly risen again, reaching 18,200 in May 2021, based on BLS data.
Vehicles from the RMA Worldwide Chauffeured Transportation fleet.
Rockville, Maryland-based RMA, like many other limousine companies, had to lay off employees and sell vehicles due to the sharp decline in business during the pandemic.
Increased vaccinations, loosening of restrictions and a return to travel bode well for the private transport sector.
Now it's about re-creating companies to meet demand, he said.
"We see that travel is making a comeback, and we have to start preparing for it," he said.
"But you can't wave the magic wand and make those employees come back."
Many of the employees who were laid off went to work for ride-sharing companies, took delivery jobs or left the industry altogether, he said.
RMA has increased wages.
Other companies, such as A-National Limousine in Atlanta, Georgia, have offered hiring bonuses and started paying recruiters, said Darrell Anderson, president of the company.
"It's hard to get back to staffing levels, even though we have the job," Anderson said.
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Performing arts theaters and dance companies
February 2020: 97,500 jobs
May 2021: 50,000 (-49%)
When theater stages went dark and concert halls fell silent, they were clear indicators that an economic engine would soon begin to fail.
The American arts and creative sector - a wide variety of artists, singers, cultural activities, advertising and cinema - has an expected annual economic impact of $ 920 billion, contributing to about 4.3% of the nation's gross domestic product. according to the estimates of the Office of Economic Analysis for 2019.
Between April and July 2020, the creative industries lost an estimated 2.7 million jobs and more than $ 150 billion in revenue, according to Brookings Institution projections released in September 2020 on the impact of the pandemic on businesses. Arts.
Broadway theaters remain closed along an empty street in the theater district on June 30, 2020, in New York City.
In May 2021, jobs in the theater and dance sector had decreased by 49% compared to their situation in February 2020.
While some elements of the arts business, notably graphic design and the creative sector, experienced V-recoveries, job recovery trajectories in the performing arts were L-shaped. theaters, concert halls and scenic spaces.
And when these types of attractions close, it has a ripple effect on surrounding businesses and communities.
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"Everything in the economy plays against each other, and this looked more like a natural disaster," said Michael Seman, an adjunct professor at the Colorado State University School of Art Management and a co-author of the Brookings report. "This was [Hurricane] Katrina happening everywhere at once for an indeterminate time."
Most of those jobs are still slow to recover. As of May 2021, jobs in the theater and dance sector were down 49% from February 2020, according to BLS data. And until the second quarter of 2021, when there was a general unemployment rate of 5.4%, 35.5% of the actors, 27.9% of the dancers and choreographers and 13.5% of the musicians were unemployed, according to data from the Office of Research and Analysis of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Although the country is reopening and live performances are back, many theaters cannot just "flip a switch" and reopen, as the Seattle Times reported this month, noting the lengthy process of auditions, rehearsals, set construction, and programming. combined with navigating tight, if not negative finances, and not to mention the continuing public health concerns that can keep people out of indoor spaces.
Bookstores and newsstands
February 2020: 81,000 jobs
May 2021: 41,600, [-49%]
In April 2019, the nation's bookstore revenues totaled $ 650 million, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, which does not include purely online retailers or businesses with retail distribution centers. products online.
Those sales fell to $ 169 million in April 2020.
Health and safety restrictions, along with fears of a prolonged economic recession, raised the concern of many in the retail sector, especially small independent bookstores.
A worker organizes the shelves at Chevalier's Books in Larchmont on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020, in Los Angeles, California.
In October, the shop owners sent an SOS to customers encouraging them to buy more and often.
Employment in bookstores has decreased by 39,400 jobs, or about 49% since February 2020, according to federal data.
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In June 2020, a survey of members had the American Booksellers Association, the trade group representing about 1,800 indie book stores, concerned that a quarter of bookstores could go out of business, CEO Allison said. Hill.
That is not the case.
Since the pandemic, 74 of the ABA members have closed permanently, while another 82 have opened, he said.
"There are a lot of changes, a lot of fluidity," he said.
"I think the pandemic upset everything, and that is why people are experiencing more," he said.
She has seen an increase in non-traditional store models, more pop-ups, more mobile operators.
Affiliated companies have also become more nimble - cutting hours, cutting staff - to ease expenses, he said.
However, the sector continues to have problems.
Businesses that already have tight margins are entering the red and running out of cash, he said.
"At last the mountain has been overcome, and now you have to cross a river," he said.
In Tucson, Arizona, Antigone Books canceled all events indefinitely and had to "greatly downsize all of our operations," co-owner Kate Stern told CNN Business.
The store reduced staff, limited operating hours, and focused more on online sales.
"[Offering online sales] is a great thing, but not only do we have an additional business to run, we are not really ready to do a large-scale online business," he said.
"We just digitized two years ago and until then we used Rolodex files," he added.
The year 2020 was tough, but Stern and his co-owners have an optimistic outlook.
Now the business is beginning to rehire.
"It is going to take us a while to get a very stable staff that allows us to do events and programs again," he says.
The BLS estimates give an idea of the depth of the losses across the sector and how job increases have suffered in recent months.
Bookstores and newsstands have lost 39,400 jobs, or nearly half, since February 2020. From January 2021 to May 2021, levels have been stable.
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