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Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Expanded jobs data: AdAge.com/adjobs.
Employment in advertising, public relations and related services surged in June, showing its biggest-ever one-month increase.
The robust ad jobs growth came as U.S. employers in June added 850,000 jobs, the strongest increase since last August, according to the monthly employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Digital media continues as the ad industry’s hot spot, with internet media employment scoring its biggest one-month gain since last July.
U.S. employment in the BLS classification of advertising, public relations and related services added 9,700 jobs to reach 450,600 jobs in June, marking the fifth month of growth since ad jobs hit a pandemic period low of 432,100 in January.
That was the biggest monthly job increase on record based on BLS data for that classification dating to 1990.
The increase in advertising employment last month came in far above May’s upwardly revised gain of 2,200 ad jobs.
This BLS bucket includes ad agencies, PR agencies and related services such as media buying, media reps, outdoor advertising, direct mail and other services related to advertising. Ad agencies account for the biggest portion—about 43%—of jobs in that BLS bucket.
U.S. ad agencies added 1,000 jobs in May, a solid showing following a gain of 700 jobs in April.
BLS reports ad agency employment on a one-month lag, so June figures aren’t yet available. But June’s advertising, public relations and related services staffing surge implies strength in ad agency employment last month.
Agencies are watching staffing levels closely. Even before the COVID-induced recession began in February 2020, ad agency employment had trended downward from the record high of 208,800 jobs reached in 2018.
Agency job cuts before and during the coronavirus pandemic aren’t a surprise. Labor is the biggest cost for agencies, and the agency business was grappling with sluggish growth even before the recession.
U.S. ad agency employment tends to peak earlier than the overall U.S. job market in the waning days of a business cycle’s economic expansion before a recession. On the flip side, agencies generally are cautious about adding employees as the economy recovers, resulting in a lag in staffing growth.
U.S. internet media employment in May rose by 3,900 jobs, reaching an all-time high of 306,200 jobs.
As with ad agencies, internet media staffing is reported with a one-month delay.
Digital media firms prospered during the pandemic, and that has translated into solid job growth. U.S. staffing at internet media businesses rebounded quickly from a brief dip in the early stages of the pandemic last spring.
The nation in June added 850,000 jobs, beating economists’ expectations. The economy added an upwardly revised 583,000 jobs in May and a downwardly revised 269,000 jobs in April.
Following an unprecedented loss of 20.7 million jobs in April 2020 as the nation locked down, the economy has added jobs every month except for December. But the total U.S. nonfarm payroll is still 6.8 million jobs below its February 2020 all-time high.
The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 5.9% in June from 5.8% in May.
The unemployment rate in February 2020 stood at 3.5%. In April 2020, it reached 14.8%, the highest level since before World War II.
Ad Age Datacenter subscribers can see an expanded table showing advertising employment back to 2000 at AdAge.com/adjobs.
In this article:
Bradley Johnson is Ad Age’s director of data analytics and runs Ad Age Datacenter with colleague Kevin Brown. Johnson focuses on data and financial topics related to marketing, advertising and media. Johnson has held Ad Age posts in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York including editor at large, deputy editor, interactive editor, bureau chief and reporter.
