By Kristin Myers, Editor-in-Chief

ICYMI: It Only Took 2.5 Years For Jobs To Recover From the Pandemic

In case you missed it, the labor market recovered from pandemic-era job losses in less than 2.5 years. Despite more than 20 million jobs lost after the pandemic hit in March 2020, it only took 29 months for those jobs to be recovered. That's the fastest recovery during a recession in the last 40 years, an analysis from The Balance found.

But who saw the biggest gains during that time? It was delivery drivers and warehouse workers who saw the greatest bounce-back, fueled by increased appetites for shopping. To keep up with that demand, there are now more delivery drivers and more warehousing and storage workers than before the pandemic, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The tightening labor market has also fueled higher wages, especially for Black men and non-White women. Black men's wages jumped by 10% by the second quarter of 2022, compared to the same quarter in 2019. And Asian, Black, and Latina women have received more than a 5% boost in earnings in that same time period, compared to just 0.3% for White women.

Despite the complete recovery in the job market, it hasn't been equal for everyone. The employment rate of Black men was still 10 percentage points lower in July 2022 than that of White, Latino, and Asian men.

-Kristin

Programming Note: The Balance Today team will be taking a short break in observance of the Labor Day holiday in the U.S. on Monday, but we'll be back in your inbox on Tuesday.

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Term of the Day

Economic Mobility

Economic mobility is the ability of someone to change their income or wealth. It is measured over generations or during one's lifetime. Research has found that the best way to improve one's mobility is through education, but the increasing cost of education is creating a block to those starting out in lower-income families. It's a form of structural inequality that keeps the poor from improving their lives.

The biggest block to mobility is widening income inequality. And unfortunately, race has also been a factor over the years. As a result, the United States has lower levels of economic mobility than other developed countries.

Off the Charts

Compared to other recessions, jobs recovered at the fastest pace seen in over 40 years after the COVID-19 pandemic—much faster than the Great Recession, the Dot-com Bubble recession, and the recession in July of 1990.