Employment in advertising, public relations and related services surged in February, tying the record for the biggest-ever one-month gain.
The robust ad jobs growth came as U.S. employers in February added 678,000 jobs, the strongest increase since July, according to the monthly employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Below, Ad Age Datacenter breaks down the report—by the numbers.
Datacenter
U.S. ad business (almost) broke a job growth record in February
Advertising employment gained 8,500 jobs as U.S. labor market growth accelerated
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Advertising, PR and related services
U.S. employment in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) classification of advertising, public relations and related services jumped to 466,100 jobs in February based on figures that are not seasonally adjusted.
February’s employment gain of 8,500 tied the record for the biggest monthly ad jobs increase since BLS began tracking this job category in 1990. (June 2006 also scored an 8,500 job increase.)
The February gain in advertising employment followed a loss of 5,900 ad jobs in January.
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 46%—of jobs in that BLS bucket.
Ad agencies
U.S. ad agencies lost 1,100 jobs in January after adding 2,900 jobs in December.
Ad agency employment stood at 211,900 jobs in January.
Ad agency staffing in December reached an all-time high of 213,000 jobs.
BLS reports ad agency employment on a one-month lag, so February figures aren’t yet available. The ad agency job stats are not seasonally adjusted.
Check out The Big List, Ad Age Datacenter’s definitive rankings of advertisers and agencies.
Internet media
U.S. internet media employment—the BLS classification of “internet publishing and broadcasting and web search portals”—increased by 1,700 jobs in January after rising by 400 jobs in December.
BLS downwardly revised the December figure from a preliminary gain of 1,900 jobs it reported a month ago.
Internet media employment stood at 322,600 jobs in January, an all-time high.
As with ad agencies, internet media staffing is reported with a one-month delay and is not seasonally adjusted.
U.S. employment
The nation in February added 678,000 jobs based on seasonally adjusted figures, beating economists’ predictions.
The economy added an upwardly revised 481,000 jobs in January and an upwardly revised 588,000 jobs in December.
Following an unprecedented loss of 20.5 million jobs in April 2020 as the nation locked down, the economy has added jobs every month except for December 2020.
The World Health Organization classified COVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020.
The total U.S. nonfarm payroll is still 2.1 million jobs below its February 2020 all-time high. If the pace of recent monthly job gains continues, total U.S. employment will recover all its pandemic losses and score a new record this June.
Unemployment rate
The U.S. unemployment rate, based on a separate survey of households, fell to 3.8% in February from 4.0% in January. The unemployment rate isn’t far above its pre-pandemic level.
The unemployment rate in February 2020 stood at 3.5%. In April 2020, it reached 14.7%, 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. The table incorporates data revisions back to 2017 that BLS made in February 2022 in its annual benchmarking process and updating of seasonal adjustment factors.
