Restaurants and bars added back nearly 1.4 million jobs in May as they reopened across the nation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While restaurants and bars were classified by states as essential businesses that could operate on takeout and delivery only, many still closed down during stay-at-home orders. Some businesses found it hard, or economically unfeasible to adopt that model, or had other public health concerns.
Construction workers
Another industry that saw gains was the construction sector, where the number of jobs increased by 464,000 in May, gaining back nearly half of what they lost in April. Construction activity is part of the first phase of reopening and many projects are resuming work.
Retail workers
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said this week that the company hired more than 300,000 associates in the US starting in March, most of them temporary workers, to help “relieve some of the burden faced by” current store workers and give those who lost jobs more opportunities.
Factory workers
Factory jobs have also made a comeback, as they fit into phase one of the reopening. The manufacturing industry added 225,000 jobs.
Dentists
While hospitals and other essential medical services stayed open, dentists closed their offices, seeing only patients who required urgent care.
Health care hires jumped significantly in May, boosted by the reopening of dental offices reopening, which added 244,800 jobs.
“This news is certainly encouraging for the economy and the dental industry but is also important in that patients are returning with trust and confidence in their clinician and understand the link between good oral health and overall body health,” said Pat Bauer, president and CEO of Heartland Dental, which supports over 1,000 dental practices in the US. The company estimates those dental offices have added nearly 6,000 jobs, all of them employees returning from furloughs.
Delivery and laundry workers
Janitors
CNN Business’ Anneken Tappe contributed to this report.
