U.S. ad agencies cut 1,100 jobs in September, the first monthly decline since January. That drop followed a gain of 1,800 jobs in August, when ad agency employment reached its highest point since March 2020, the month that the World Health Organization classified COVID-19 as a pandemic.
BLS reports ad agency employment on a one-month lag, so October figures aren’t yet available. But October’s advertising, public relations and related services staffing increase implies a gain in ad agency employment last month.
Agencies are watching staffing levels closely. Even before the COVID-induced recession began in February 2020, ad agency employment had trended downward from the record high of 208,800 jobs reached in 2018. The recession officially ended in April 2020.
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Agency job cuts before and during the coronavirus pandemic aren’t a surprise. Labor is the biggest cost for agencies, and ad agencies were grappling with sluggish growth even before the recession.
U.S. ad agency employment tends to peak earlier than the overall U.S. job market in the waning days of a business cycle’s economic expansion before a recession. On the flip side, agencies generally are cautious about adding employees as the economy recovers, resulting in a lag in staffing growth.
Source: https://adage.com/article/datacenter/us-advertising-employment-increased-2200-jobs-october/2378091
