Employment in advertising, public relations and related services increased by 4,700 jobs in July as the ad market kept climbing despite incessant talk of recession.

For the overall economy, U.S. employers added 528,000 jobs in July, according to the monthly employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Total U.S. employment has now recovered all of its pandemic losses and reached a new all-time high.

The unemployment rate dropped to 3.5%. The last time the unemployment rate was lower than that was 1969.

Below, Ad Age Datacenter breaks down the report—by the numbers.

Advertising, PR and related services

U.S. employment in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) classification of advertising, public relations and related services came in at 489,400 jobs in July based on figures that are not seasonally adjusted. 

The gain of 4,700 ad jobs in July followed an increase of 7,100 jobs in June.

BLS downwardly revised the June figure from a preliminary gain of 7,300 jobs it reported a month ago.

Ad, PR and related services employment is above where it stood on the eve of the pandemic in February 2020 (484,400 jobs). Ad employment hit a pandemic nadir of 430,800 in January 2021.

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 45%—of those jobs.

Ad agencies

U.S. ad agency employment totaled 220,500 jobs in June, an all-time high.

Ad agencies added 2,100 jobs in June after gaining 2,200 jobs in May based on figures that are not seasonally adjusted. 

BLS upwardly revised the May figure from a gain of 2,100 jobs it reported a month ago.

BLS reports ad agency employment on a one-month lag, so July figures aren’t yet available.

But July’s strong ad, PR and related services staffing increase implies good growth in ad agency employment last month.

Internet media

Internet media employment stood at 348,500 jobs in June, an all-time high.

U.S. internet media employment—the BLS classification of “internet publishing and broadcasting and web search portals”—jumped by 8,800 jobs in June. That’s the strongest monthly jobs growth on record, according to Ad Age Datacenter’s analysis of BLS internet jobs data going back to 2000.

The robust growth is a positive indicator about the health of internet media, running counter to concerns about a tightening in digital media amid reports of job cuts at some tech companies.

Internet media staffing rose by 6,000 jobs in May. BLS upwardly revised the May figure from a preliminary gain of 5,900 jobs it reported a month ago.

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 July added 528,000 jobs based on seasonally adjusted figures, well above predictions as employers continued to hire even as high inflation, rising interest rates and weak consumer confidence have heightened expectations that the nation is in a recession now or will enter one within the next year.

The economy (as measured by real, or after-inflation, gross domestic product) shrunk in the first two quarters, ramping up recession fears.

Employment grew by an upwardly revised 398,000 jobs in June and an upwardly revised 386,000 jobs in May.

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.

With July’s employment gain, total U.S. employment has now recovered all of its pandemic losses and reached a new all-time high.

Unemployment rate

The U.S. unemployment rate, based on a separate survey of households, dropped to 3.5% in July from 3.6% in June.

The jobless rate is now back to its level before the pandemic (3.5% in February 2020), tied for the lowest level since 1969.

In April 2020, unemployed reached 14.7%, the highest since before World War II.

Ad Age Datacenter subscribers can see an expanded table showing advertising employment back to 2000 at AdAge.com/adjobs.

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