Employment recovery continues in 2021, with some industries reaching or exceeding their prepandemic employment levels

Total nonfarm employment in the United States continued to recover in 2021, with some industries fully recovering and subsequently expanding amid the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The leisure and hospitality industry and the professional and business services industry led the widespread employment gains over the year. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, total nonfarm payroll employment in the United States continued to recover in 2021, moving further away from the widespread job losses caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. (See chart 1.) Employment rose by 6.7 million in 2021, the largest calendar-year gain in the history of the CES employment series (see chart 2) and the strongest relative gain (+4.7 percent) since 1978. Nearly all major industries experienced employment gains in 2021.