“The fate of the labor market will determine the pace of economic recovery. One thing this month’s job report made clear is that permanent economic damage continued to increase, as the number of permanent job losses increased from 1.5 million in March to 3.4 million in August. Companies are starting to make more permanent staffing changes as the pandemic lingers. The increase in permanent job losses points to longer-term unemployment and prolonged economic recovery.” --Odeta Kushi, Deputy Chief Economist with First American Financial Corp., Santa Ana, Calif.