Delta variant hits US job market with sudden hiring slowdown

An abrupt slowdown in hiring shows that the Delta variant of Covid-19 is having a significant impact on the US economy, in addition to its impact on the health of the nation.

Just 235,000 jobs were added in August according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, coinciding with the startling increase in coronavirus cases and deaths across much of the South and Midwest.

Economists had been hoping for an increase of three times that number, with 725,000 new hires forecast.