WASHINGTON – U.S. employers added a substantial 4.8 million jobs in June, and the unemployment rate fell to 11.1%, as the job market improved for a second straight month yet still remained far short of regaining the colossal losses it suffered this spring.The nation has now recovered roughly one-third of the 22 million jobs it lost to the pandemic recession.
And with confirmed coronavirus cases spiking across the Sun Belt states, a range of evidence suggests that a job market recovery may be stalling.
In those states and elsewhere, some restaurants, bars and other retailers that had re-opened are being forced to close again.The re-closings are keeping layoffs elevated: The number of Americans who sought unemployment benefits barely fell.