Over 1.3 Million Jobs in Entertainment, Arts and Recreation Lost in April

The arts, entertainment and recreation industry lost over 1.3 million jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday.

With a total of 23.1 million people being unemployed in the country last month, the unemployment rate reached 14.7% in April, marking a 10.3% increase over the month — the “highest rate and the largest over-the-month increase” ever recorded, the bureau reported.

With 7.7 million job losses, the leisure and hospitality industry — which includes arts, entertainment and recreation — has been hit the hardest, according to the bureau’s analysis. And within the arts, entertainment and recreation classification, the performing arts and spectator sports sector lost roughly 217,000 jobs last month, while amusements, gambling and recreation sector lost just under 1.1 million jobs.

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Workers in what the bureau classifies as the “information” industry — which includes the motion picture and sound recording, publishing, broadcasting, telecommunications and data processing — lost 254,000 jobs in April, a number that was largely driven by the 217,000 jobs lost in the motion picture and sound recording industries.

In California, 4.3 million people have applied for unemployment insurance, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday. Some of the state’s small businesses have been approved to receive roughly $33 billion in loans in the second round of the Paycheck Protection Program, according to a report from the Small Business Administration. Across the U.S. as of April 16, the arts, entertainment and recreation sector has received roughly $5 billion in loans from the PPP, which accounts for about 1.4% of all the loans that were approved by that date.

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