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8.A. - Page 33 of 42 Unemployment Rate (left) vs. Change in Non-farm Payrolls (right) Change In Non -Farm Payrolls Unemployment Rate 16.0% 10,000K 14.0% 5,0001K 12.0% - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -� 1��■_ 0 10.0% 5-OOOK 8.0% 6.0% 10-0OOK 4.0% 15-OOOK 2.0% 20-000K 0.0% 25-OOOK Sep'17 Mar'18 Sep'18 Mar'19 Sep'19 Mar'20 Sep'20 PFM Asset Management LLC At its worst, in April, total nonfarm employment had declined by 14.5 percent. At the end of 2020, employment remained significantly suppressed at 6.5 percent below February levels. This represents the sharpest calendar year decline in employment in the last 40 years. As with consumer spending, the effects have been felt differently across industries. At the same time, there is no industry that has recovered to its employment level of February, 2020. The financial activities sector is close, down 1.2 percent relative to February, but all major sectors of the economy remain, sometimes significantly so, below pre -pandemic levels. The employment effects have not been felt evenly by all different types of workers. High wage workers, defined as those with annual incomes in excess of $60,000, have seen an increase in employment since the pandemic started. Low wage workers, on the other hand, have been disproportionately affected, with their jobs remaining 21 percent below their levels in January 2020. A review of the hardest hit sectors easily explains this inequitable impact. People -facing sectors, restaurants, retail, entertainment, and transportation are all significant employers of low wage workers. Small businesses are often heralded as the primary job creators in the United States. To the extent that is true, they are important sources of growth. The implications for small businesses through the pandemic may well have significant implications for growth going forward. In the aggregate, nearly one in three small businesses that was open in January of 2020 was closed at the end of 2020. This is not to say that none of these small businesses will reopen when they are able, but that they are currently closed. Many will reopen, but it is highly likely that many of these small businesses, and some of those that have remained open through the pandemic will be in a more financially precarious position than they were before the pandemic. There is ample evidence that most of the Federal aid to businesses has bypassed small businesses. As little as just one-third of those small businesses requiring assistance received it from Federal sources. The rest borrowed from family and friends, business and personal credit cards, and other sources. 4 564