Robust hiring fuels optimism for recovery
WASHINGTON >> U.S. employers added a surprisingly robust 379,000 jobs last month in a sign the economy is strengthening as virus cases drop, vaccinations ramp up, Americans spend more and states ease business restrictions.
The February gain marked a sharp pickup from the 166,000 jobs that were added in January and the loss of 306,000 in December. Yet it represents just a fraction of the roughly 9.5 million that the economy must regain to get back to where it was before the crisis.
Unemployment fell from 6.3% to 6.2%, the Labor Department reported Friday. That is down dramatically from 14.8% last April, just after the virus erupted in the United States. But it’s well above the pre-pandemic rate of 3.5%.
“The recovery really has some legs, some momentum now,” said Odeta Kushi, deputy chief economist at First American Financial Corp.
In suggesting the economy is on the mend, the strong jobs report could complicate President Joe Biden’s struggle to push through his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, which passed the House and is before the Senate.
It would provide, among other things, $1,400 checks to most adults, hundreds more in weekly unemployment benefits and another round of aid to small businesses at a time when many Americans have seen their income shrivel and have fallen behind on rent, mortgages and other bills.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that the job gains have been too slow and that much higher unemployment rates among Hispanic and Black Americans show the need for more aid. She noted that it will take several years to recover from the pandemic layoffs.
“This is unacceptable,” Psaki said. “Congress must pass the American Rescue Plan now so we can get Americans back to work.”