In April, employment in leisure and hospitality plummeted by 7.7 million, or 47%. Almost three-quarters of the decrease occurred in food services and drinking places (-5.5 million).
Sharp losses occurred in temporary help services (-842,000) and in services to buildings and dwellings (-259,000).
Employment also declined in social assistance (-651,000), reflecting job losses in child day care services (-336,000) and individual and family services (-241,000).
In health care, employment declined by 1.4 million, led by losses in offices of dentists (-503,000), offices of physicians (-243,000), and offices of other health care practitioners (-205,000).
Employment in private education declined by 457,000 over the month.

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Employment in information fell by 254,000 in April, driven by a decline in motion picture and sound recording industries (-217,000).
Professional and business services shed 2.1 million jobs in April.
In April, manufacturing employment dropped by 1.3 million. About two-thirds of the decline was in durable goods manufacturing (-914,000), which saw losses in motor vehicles and parts (-382,000) and in fabricated metal products (-109,000). Nondurable goods manufacturing shed 416,000 jobs.
Employment in financial activities fell by 262,000 over the month, with the vast majority of the decline occurring in real estate and rental and leasing (-222,000).
Employment in information fell by 254,000 in April, driven by a decline in motion picture and sound recording industries (-217,000).

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In April, employment in retail trade declined by 2.1 million. Job losses occurred in clothing and clothing accessories stores (-740,000), motor vehicle and parts dealers (-345,000), miscellaneous store retailers (-264,000), and furniture and home furnishings stores (-209,000).
Construction employment fell by 975,000 in April, with much of the loss in specialty trade contractors (-691,000). Job losses also occurred in construction of buildings (-206,000).

WASHINGTON, DC—On Friday the body blow that the US economy had been expecting landed with a harsh thud. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the job losses experienced in April and the resulting unemployment rate. The headline numbers were 20.5 million nonfarm payroll jobs lost for the month and a 14.7% unemployment rate.

Certainly this was not a surprise as other indicators, such as the weekly unemployment claims, had been pointing to a massive job loss. The BLS, though, is the official word on where the US unemployment is and it also breaks down these losses by sector.

These breakdowns by sector are very valuable to the commercial real estate sector, especially now as events move so rapidly.

In the above slideshow we look at just what sectors shed the most jobs during the first full month Covid-19 had seized the US economy.