(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. payrolls count was probably reduced slightly in the year through March, a period the pandemic made extremely volatile for both the labor market and the economy.
The number of workers on payrolls will probably be revised down by 166,000 during the period, according to the Labor Department’s preliminary benchmark projections issued Wednesday. The final revisions are due next year.
The revision period captures some of the wildest swings in the labor market in the nation’s history -- the year through March included both the record monthly payrolls decline in April 2020 and an unprecedented advance a few months later.
First, pandemic-driven shutdowns cast millions of people out of work within a matter of weeks. Then, the loosening of those government restrictions and the broader reopening of the economy led to a hiring snapback. As of the July jobs report, the number of people on payrolls is down 5.7 million from its pre-pandemic peak in February of last year.
The Labor Department revised down its payrolls count in leisure and hospitality -- an industry that’s taken longer to recovery from the coronavirus pandemic -- by 597,000 for the period. Government employment was revised up by 255,000.
The final annual benchmark revisions to payrolls will be issued with the January employment data released in February 2022. The Labor Department uses records from state jobless benefit tax records to benchmark its employment data.
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