Durable Employment

Examined by Yardi Matrix

By Leah Etling on May 28, 2020 in Matrix

Each week’s news seems to bring a new wave of devastation for the U.S. employment market, as unemployment claims continue to climb due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The national unemployment toll was 36.5 million jobs lost when this was written – by the time you read it, that figure will likely be higher.

Yardi Matrix® dove into the unemployment data to find out which sectors and geographic regions are hardest hit, which will hold up and where the unemployed may want to look for their next opportunity.

Unlike past recessions, job losses have not been spread across the economy. Layoffs and furloughs have been concentrated in segments most affected by shelter-in-place orders: retail, leisure, travel and entertainment, and jobs in which social distancing is difficult.

Between February and April, leisure and hospitality jobs contracted by a jaw-dropping 48.1%, or 8.1 million workers. Other hard-hit segments include other services (-21.9%), a category that includes personal services and repairs, retail trade (-13.7%) and construction (-12.7%).

The number of lost jobs has been higher among hourly, service-based workers than for career workers who more easily can work from home. On a proportional basis, job categories that shed the fewest jobs over the last three months are financial activities (-2.8%), government (-4.3%) and wholesale trade (-6.2%). Another segment that lost relatively few jobs was professional and technical services (-5.3%), which includes computer systems design services (-3.8%).

“This report provides in-depth insight to the most durable employment sectors, both professionally and geographically,” said Jeff Adler, vice president of Yardi Matrix.  Find the full Durable Employment Sectors report from Yardi Matrix.