The staggering job losses at the start of the pandemic were a gut punch to many Americans, but a new report from Fitch Ratings says that by the end of August, the U.S. will have refilled all of the jobs lost during the pandemic.
The report, shared with CNN, notes, however, that while achieving that strong job growth milestone in such a short period is notable, the numbers do not factor in the number of new jobs that would have been created if there had not been a pandemic.
Moody’s Analytics, which expects a full return to pre-COVID employment by September 30, estimates some 4.5 million jobs would have been created in that time frame.
Last month, Fitch noted that 10 states have already achieved a full pre-pandemic jobs recovery—Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Montana, Utah, Idaho, Texas and Arizona. (Colorado and two other states have since been added to the list.)
As of a month ago, only Hawaii, North Dakota and Louisiana had failed to reach at least a 70% recovery of jobs lost at the peak of the pandemic.
For comparison, it took nearly 6.5 years for the jobs market to rebound after the Great Recession.
Not every areas of the country is celebrating, though. Fitch notes that there are still “acute labor shortages” in many areas, including the West and Midwest. In Montana, it says, the number of unfilled jobs is three times higher than the number of unemployed people.
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