US ad employment surged in May to its highest level since 2001

Employment in advertising, public relations and related services jumped by 2,600 jobs in May, catapulting staffing to its highest level since 2001.

Ad agency employment reached an all-time high.

For the overall economy, U.S. employers added 339,000 jobs in May, according to the monthly employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That’s the biggest monthly job gain since January and a sign of the labor market’s resilience despite the stresses of inflation, sluggish retail sales, a weakening housing market, recurring headlines about layoffs and worries about a looming recession.

There was also conflicting bad news: The unemployment rate, based on a separate survey of households, rose to 3.7% in May from 3.4% in April, taking the jobless rate back to its fall 2022 level.
 
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 496,600 jobs in May based on seasonally adjusted figures. 

That puts ad employment at its highest level since March 2001, around the time of the dot-com bubble. That earlier date is noteworthy: It marked the peak of the business cycle and first month of a recession.

The ad market added 2,600 jobs in May following a gain of 1,700 jobs in April.

BLS downwardly revised the April figure from a preliminary gain of 2,100 jobs reported a month ago.

Monthly advertising employment has seesawed since last fall. Staffing rose in five months (October, January, February, April, May) and fell in four months (September, November, December, March).

This BLS jobs 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 47%—of those jobs.

The job market remains unsettled with layoffs at tech firms, media companies and some agencies.

Ad agencies

U.S. ad agency employment jumped to 229,800 jobs in April, passing last October’s previous peak to score an all-time high.

Ad agencies gained 2,600  jobs in April on a non-seasonally adjusted basis following a gain of 300 jobs in March. 

BLS downwardly revised the March figure from a preliminary gain of 400 jobs reported a month ago.

BLS reports ad agency employment on a one-month lag, so May figures aren’t yet available. But the May increase in advertising, public relations and related services employment suggests that ad agency staffing had a solid gain last month.

Unemployment rate

The U.S. unemployment rate, based on a separate survey of households, climbed to 3.7% in May from 3.4% in April. That’s the sharpest one-month increase since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020.

U.S. employment

The nation in May added 339,000 jobs based on seasonally adjusted figures.
 
BLS said the economy gained 294,000 jobs in April (upwardly revised from 253,000 jobs) and 217,000 jobs in March (upwardly revised from 165,000 jobs).

BLS monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from recalculation of seasonal factors.

Following an unprecedented loss of 20.5 million jobs in April 2020 as the nation locked down in the coronavirus pandemic, the economy has added jobs every month except for December 2020.

Total U.S. employment (156.1 million jobs in May) has recovered all of its pandemic losses, topping its February 2020 pre-pandemic peak (152.4 million) to reach a new all-time high.

The World Health Organization in January 2020 declared the coronavirus outbreak a global public health emergency and in March 2020 classified COVID-19 as a pandemic. The group’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in May 2023 determined that “COVID-19 is now an established and ongoing health issue which no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.”

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