By Kevin Penton
Law360 (June 5, 2020, 1:15 PM EDT) -- Legal industry jobs creeped up by 0.3% in May, an increase of 3,200 positions that came one month after a precipitous decrease brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to
U.S. Department of Labor data released Friday.
The number of legal sector jobs increased from about 1,094,300 in April to 1,097,500 in May, based on the seasonally adjusted numbers from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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While the gains counter a two-month pattern of job declines, the 3,200 additional positions hardly make a dent in the 66,000 jobs that were lost in April, a figure that BLS revised upward from earlier estimates. As recently as February, there had been 1,162,600 people employed in the sector, which had been the most since January 2008, according to the numbers.
The larger category of professional and technical services, which includes the legal industry, saw a gain of 39,800 jobs in May, an increase of 0.4% from April, according to the statistics.
--Editing by Alyssa Miller.
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