Half of Jobs Lost to Pandemic Have ‘Come Back,’ Says Paychex CEO

Paychex ended fiscal Q1 Aug. 31 with results that were “better than originally projected, as most of our key business metrics recovered at a faster rate than anticipated,” said CEO Martin Mucci on a Tuesday investor call. Payroll clients in “non-processing status” since COVID-19 furloughs began are beginning “to pay employees again,” he said. “We still have some that have suspended their service, but it’s getting down to a very low number,” perhaps “a quarter of what we saw” at the peak, he said. Mucci declined to predict future unemployment trends. Paychex has seen “half the jobs come back that were lost” to the pandemic, he said. “I think it’s going to continue to improve, but at a slower rate than we had. And then I think the hardest prediction is really kind of after the election, what does that do to things.”