The May 2020 Economic Report still clearly shows the devastating economic impact of COVID-19, but there is a glimmer of hope as 2.5 million jobs have been added and unemployment has declined.

The information for this report was developed using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, Yahoo Finance, and FedPrimeRate.com. Below the report, check out the Amtec Tip of the Month about how to make your employees want to stay.

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Amtec Tip of the Month

Understanding how employees think about making a move is important when planning how to make your employees want to stay. Based on an Indeed survey, here’s a synopsis of suggested strategies for increasing employee retention:

• Offer competitive salaries and benefits: Stay on top of your industry’s current wages and benefits to hang onto your best employees. Offering competitive compensation will also attract top candidates for newly opened positions.
• Develop programs focused on skill-building: Set up structured, achievable career advancement pathways. Provide programs and mentoring opportunities to help employees develop the skills they’ll need to move vertically within your company.
• Cultivate a supportive corporate culture: Starting at the top, incorporate changes to create a supportive, inclusive company culture. To be effective, these changes must be incorporated into the company’s hiring and personnel management programs.
• Recognize achievement: Employees want their achievements to be tangibly rewarded, whether it’s by compensation or promotions. But there are other ways to recognize accomplishments (read Rewards and Recognitions for more ideas).

You can read more about how to make your employees want to stay here.

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Additional Information

If you’re unable to view our May 2020 Economic Report or would like additional information, read below:

COVID-19: The changes in these measures reflect the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it. The household survey response rate, at 67%, was about 15% lower than in months prior to the pandemic. The collection rate for the establishment survey was 69%, slightly lower than collection rates prior to the pandemic.

• The unemployment rate declined by 1.4% to 13.3% in May. The number of unemployed persons fell by 2.1 million to 21 million.

• Total employment increased by 2.5 million in May after falling by 20.7 million in April. This is the largest recorded one-month gain in U.S. history.

• Leisure and Hospitality added 1.2 million jobs.
  • 1.4 million jobs added in food services and drinking places

• Construction added 464,000 jobs.
  • 325,000 jobs added in specialty trade contractors
  • 105,000 jobs added in construction of buildings

• Education and Health Services added 424,000 jobs.
  • 245,000 jobs added in dentist offices
  • 44,000 jobs added in child day care services
  • 37,000 jobs lost in nursing and residential care facilities
  • 27,000 jobs lost in hospitals

• Retail Trade added 368,000 jobs.
  • 95,000 jobs added in clothing and clothing accessories stores
  • 85,000 jobs added in automobile dealers
  • 95,000 jobs lost in electronics and appliance stores
  • 36,000 jobs lost in auto parts, accessories, and tire stores.

• Other services added 272,000 jobs.
  • 182,000 jobs added in personal and laundry services

• Manufacturing added 225,000 jobs.
  • 28,000 jobs added in motor vehicles and parts
  • 25,000 jobs added in fabricated metal products
  • 23,000 jobs added in machinery

• The government lost 585,000 jobs.
  • 310,000 jobs lost in local government education
  • 84,000 jobs lost in state government
  • 63,000 jobs lost in state education

• Average hourly earnings for all employees dropped by 29¢ to $29.75. This decrease is largely due to job gains among lower-paid workers.

Note: Data below represents changes from different months.

• Job openings dropped 11.6% in March to 6.2 million openings.

• Dow Jones rose 5.2% in May with a high of 25,551.56 points.

• Housing starts dropped by a massive 30.2% to 891,000 in April.

• Consumer price index dropped 0.8% in April.

• Federal prime rate remained at 3.25% in May after dropping from 4.25% in March.

• Retail inventories rose 1% in March at $668 billion.

• Manufacturing hours worked per week rose 2.1% to an average of 38.9 hours in May.

• Manufacturing new orders dropped by 13% to $384 billion in April.

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