U.S. full-time employees unadjusted monthly number 2021-2023

As of February 2023, there were 131.17 million full-time employees in the United States. This is a slight decrease from the previous month, when there were 131.18 million full-time employees.

The impact COVID-19 on employment

In December 2019, an infectious disease classified as COVID-19 began its spread across the globe. Since being classified as a pandemic, it has caused a global health crisis that has taken the lives of over millions of people worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic changed many facets of society, most significantly, the economy. In the first years, many businesses across all industries were forced to shut down, with large numbers of employees being laid off. The economy continued its recover in 2022 with the nationwide unemployment rate returning to a more normal 3.5 percent as of December 2022.

Unemployment benefits

Because so many people in the United States lost their jobs, record numbers of individuals applied for unemployment insurance for the first time. As an early response to this nation-wide upheaval, the government issued relief checks and extended the benefits paid by unemployment insurance. In May 2020, the amount of unemployment insurance benefits paid rose to 23.73 billion U.S. dollars. As of December 2022, this value had declined to 2.24 billion U.S. dollars.