The economy added 531,000 jobs in October, but many Americans aren’t going back to work. As of last month, employment across the United States was still 2.8 percent below its pre-pandemic peak, which translates into 4.2 million missing jobs. Even more concerning is that the U.S. economy seems to have cooled down considerably, growing at a 2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, down from over 6 percent in the second quarter of 2021.
Most of the employment recovery is concentrated in a few states, and Covid-19 vaccination rates seem to have nothing to do with it. States with the highest vaccination rates—Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont—have recovered as many jobs as have many states with below-average rates, such as West Virginia, Alabama and Mississippi.
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