U.S. full-time employees unadjusted monthly number 2021-2022

As of October 2022, there were 132.54 million full-time employees in the United States. This is an increase from October 2021, when there were 128.85 million full-time employees.

The impact COVID-19 on employment

In December 2019, an infectious disease classified as COVID-19 first started in Wuhan, China. Since being classified as a pandemic, it has caused a global health crisis that has taken the lives of over 3.7 million people worldwide so far. The COVID-19 pandemic has consequently changed every facet of society, most significantly, the economy. As a result of many businesses across all industries being forced to shut down, many employees have been laid off. However, the nationwide unemployment rate has returned to a more normal 3.5 percent as of September 2022.

Unemployment benefits

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the large number of jobs lost, many residents in the United States filed for unemployment. As an early response to this nation-wide upheaval, the government issued relief checks and extended the benefits paid by unemployment insurance. In January 2021, the amount of unemployment insurance benefits paid rose to 5.62 billion U.S. dollars. As of August 2022, this value had declined to 2.01 billion U.S. dollars.