Ad agency employment hits an all-time high

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 473,700 jobs in March based on figures that are not seasonally adjusted.

The March gain of 3,200 ad jobs followed an increase of 12,800 jobs in February. The February increase marked the biggest-ever one-month gain in ad jobs.

BLS upwardly revised the February figure from a preliminary gain of 8,500 jobs it reported a month ago.

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 jobs in that BLS bucket.

U.S. employment

The nation in March added 431,000 jobs based on seasonally adjusted figures, slightly below economists’ predictions.

Employment grew by an upwardly revised 750,000 jobs in February and an upwardly revised 504,000  jobs in January.

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 1.6 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 of its pandemic losses and score a new record in June or July.