U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index (JQI)® April 2021

U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index Revised to 81.99 from Previous Month - Essentially Unchanged and Reflecting a Similar Proportion of U.S. Production and Non-Supervisory Jobs

NEW YORK, May 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Following the release of the Employment Situation Report for April 2021 by the *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)*, the *U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index (JQI)® *has been revised to a level of *81.99*, essentially unchanged from its revised level one month earlier and reflecting a similar proportion - relative to the prior month - of U.S. production and non-supervisory (P&NS) jobs paying less than the mean weekly income of all P&NS jobs (“Low Quality Jobs”), relative to those jobs paying above such mean. *The JQI remains heavily impacted by the extraordinary disruption in the number and composition of private sector production and non-supervisory jobs since the beginning of the U.S. impact of the COVID19 global pandemic, with regard to which the following additional special factors should be noted:*              *(i) *   the BLS Employment Situation Report for April reflects a net 218,000 increase in private sector payrolls, with the leisure and hospitality sector accounting for a 331,000 private sector gain and net losses in all other sectors combined. This is a trend change from the prior two months.             *(ii)*   Jobs in Low Quality sectors that laid off workers during the peak crisis months, and again in November 2020 through January 2021, have been slowly returning. But in April, only the leisure and hospitality sector saw improvement – with sectors such as retail and temporary employment actually losing jobs.             *(iii) *   the *JQI* may rise or fall for a period of time to the extent that such large numbers of Low Quality Jobs have been substantially eliminated or restored, as offset by the significantly higher benchmark mean weekly income, when compared to pre-pandemic levels, used in computing the index since the elimination of large numbers of Low Quality Jobs during the pandemic.

The mean weekly wage income of all P&NS jobs as of the current reading (which reflects the level as of February 2021) *rose* to *863.55*, a change of +*0.92% *from its revised level the month prior. The upward change in this series reflects a pause in the restoration of the low-wage/low-hours positions that had grown substantially in number over the course of the four years prior to the pandemic. The* JQ-Instant™ *preliminary read of the *266,000* *gain* in *all *private sector, non-farm payrolls for April 2021 shows that *46.79% *of such *gain* in private sector jobs were in industry sectors offering P&NS jobs with an average weekly income below the mean weekly income of all P&NS jobs (i.e. Low Quality Jobs). This reading was due to the substantial gain in April of jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector (at the low-quality end), offset by higher quality jobs in professional and technical services and financial jobs, especially in the real estate sector.

Daniel Alpert, co-creator of the U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index, said "In April, only the leisure and hospitality sector saw improvement – with sectors such as retail and temporary employment actually losing jobs."

For an explanatory video on the JQI, please see: http://www.vimeo.com/jqi.

This news release presents data from the most recent JQI reading calculated through the month immediately prior to the month covered by this release. The JQI assesses job quality in the United States by measuring desirable higher-wage/higher-hour jobs versus lower-wage/lower-hour jobs. The JQI offers a near-real time analytical tool to policymakers, researchers and financial market participants with relevance to a variety of trends in the economy at large. The JQI analyzes a representative sample of the economy using production and non-supervisory job (P&NS) data from 180 different industry groups spanning across all 20 super-sectors into which the BLS groups establishments. The principal data utilized is contained in the Current Employment Survey (CES, also often referred to as the establishment survey) P&NS data on average weekly hours, average hourly wage and total employment for each given industry group (seasonally adjusted, in all cases). The JQI is updated on a monthly basis contemporaneously with the release of new CES data from the BLS.

The JQ-Instant reading is for the month covered by this release and has implications for the likely direction of the JQI itself in future months. As the JQI is reported as a three-month rolling average of actual monthly readings, significant imbalances (readings varying from an even distribution between high and low quality jobs) in the JQ-Instant results would suggest future JQI readings moving in the direction of the dominant side of such distribution.

The U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index (patent pending) is a joint development of the Program on the Law and Regulation of Financial Institutions and Markets at the Jack G. Clarke Institute of Cornell Law School, the University of Missouri Kansas City Department of Economics, the Coalition for a Prosperous America, and the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity.

For more information, and to read the full report, visit https://www.jobqualityindex.com/.

©2021 JQI IP Holdings LLC. “Private Sector Job Quality Index” and “JQI” are registered trademarks of JQI IP Holdings LLC. The Private Sector Job Quality Index is patent pending, application number US 62/900,923. Cornell logo and Cornell Law School and Jack G. Clarke Program names and references used with permission.

*Media Contact*
Melissa Tallman
Coalition for a Prosperous America
315-269-4205
melissa@prosperousamerica.org