The state revenue forecast is looking rosy despite the slow recovery of jobs lost to the pandemic thanks to a huge influx of federal support.
Earlier this year Legislative Economist Greg Albrecht said job and economic activity metrics didn’t paint a pretty picture, but he’s changed his mind now that the state is in line to receive Ove three billion dollars in aid due to the passage of the American Rescue Act.
“My optimism has changed a little bit we now have this gigantic federal injection, we have an accelerating vaccine rollout,” said Albrecht. “I never imaged they would pass a plan that big and that extensive, I mean it’s got money everywhere.”
Albrecht said the total pandemic job loss picture has come into view. At our lowest point last April we had lost 284,000 jobs for a total unemployment rate of 13 percent. As of January, it sits at 7.6 percent after regaining 42 percent of the lost jobs, or 125,000. The retail sector has returned 92 percent of its lost jobs while hospitality has only returned about half. Albrecht laid out the numbers at a House Appropriations Committee meeting Thursday.
Albrecht said the state is still way off of its pre-pandemic expectations and some industries, like mining, continue to see job losses. Of 15 major economic sectors that are tracked, seven have lost even more jobs from the April 20th job loss trough, notably manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, real estate, government, and finance.
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