Prior to December, job gains had slowed for five straight months since peaking at 4.8 million in June. The nation has recovered 12.3 million, or about 56%, of the 22.2 million jobs wiped out in the health crisis as restaurants, shops and other businesses shuttered by the outbreak were allowed to reopen, and the outlets brought back many furloughed workers.
But the rehiring has been offset by a resurgent virus across most of the country that's sparking renewed restrictions on businesses, fewer visits by consumers who fear contagion and hundreds of thousands of layoffs. And the nation isn't expected to fully recoup the remaining 9.8 million jobs eradicated in the outbreak until late 2023.
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