...The median jobs recovery rate (the share of employment regained from coronavirus pandemic-related losses) among major MSAs (or metros) rose on a month-over-month basis to 70% in August 2021. Additionally, 45 out of 53 major metros experienced employment growth, slightly below the number for July. Southern major metros maintained the highest recovery rate of all regions, at 77%, unchanged from July. For the U.S. as a whole, August marked a stagnant period for employment recovery, driven by broad reversals in the Leisure and Hospitality (L&H) sector's resurgence in many major metros. No region saw a month-over-month recovery rate surpass 2.5 percentage points (pps) in August, with the Western region exhibiting the greatest improvement. The median Fitch Ratings-adjusted monthly unemployment rate for major metros, which reclassifies employees who have left the labor force since the onset of the pandemic as unemployed, fell to 6.2% in August, down notably from 6.8% in July. The August Fitch-adjusted...
