Three Facts from Today's Jobs Report

• The employment-population ratio fell by 1.1 percentage points. This is the largest one-month drop since these data began in 1948.
• The number of job losers on temporary layoff showed a large spike upward (by more than 1 million people).
• The number of permanent job losers showed only a small increase (by less than 200,000 people). 

None of this reflects the dramatic changes during the past two weeks. We will have to wait until next month's report to see that in the employment data. But these three facts offer a glimmer of hope that the inevitable deep recession resulting from the pandemic might be followed by a quick recovery.