After 3 months of lockdown, with millions of Americans having lost their jobs due to the China-caused coronavirus, we need some good news. 

Today, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the newest jobs report. In May, the U.S. economy added 2.5 million jobs. Unemployment has finally started to fall as well. According to the report, the unemployment rate fell from 14.7 percent to 13.3 percent. This is significantly better than the 19.2 percent forecasted unemployment rate for May. 

A lot of this job growth was in the leisure and hospitality sector but other major sectors of growth include construction, education and health services, retail trade and manufacturing. 

This report is encouraging news. Such a turn around in only a month suggests that maybe the economic regrowth will happen faster than expected. Already, the number of open small businesses have jumped, reaching 73 percent. That is up from a lockdown-low of 52 percent before the April jobs report. 

In addition, there were 15.3 million people in temporary layoff in May. While it is obviously bad that these employees remain laid off, it is encouraging for workers to remain connected to their jobs. That way, there is strong reason to believe that those workers would return to work more quickly once communities reopen. 

Finally, the report noted that for all private sector employees, the average work week jumped from 0.5 to 34.7 hours in May. For production and non-supervisory employees, this measure increased from 0.6 to 34.1 hours. These numbers indicate that Americans are finally getting back to work. 

The only way to solve the looming housing crisis and alleviate the fear and uncertainty felt by so many Americans is to help them get back to work. This jobs report shows that communities are returning to work and slowly but surely, we’re regaining the strong economy that we started the year with.