Economic recovery continues with 916K jobs added in March
WASHINGTON — America’s employers unleashed a burst of hiring in March, adding 916,000 jobs in a sign that a sustained recovery from the pandemic recession is taking hold as vaccinations accelerate, stimulus checks flow through the economy and businesses increasingly reopen.
The March increase — the most since August — was nearly double February’s gain of 468,000, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate declined from 6.2% to 6%.
Even with last month’s robust increase, the economy remains more than 8 million jobs short of the number it had before the pandemic erupted a little over a year ago
“We can rejoice in these numbers, but we still have a lot of work to do,” said Jane Oates, president of WorkingNation and a former Labor Department official. “There are millions of workers we need to get back into jobs.”
The brightening outlook for the labor market follows a year of epic job losses, waves of coronavirus infections and small business closures. Numerous signs suggest that the economy is improving. Consumer confidence in March reached its highest level since the pandemic intensified.
A survey found that manufacturing grew in March at its fastest pace since 1983. And vaccinations are increasingly being administered, although new confirmed infections have risen from lower levels in recent weeks.
Speaking after the government issued the jobs report, President Joe Biden said it showed that his $1.9 trillion financial rescue package — which included $1,400 checks to most adults — was already boosting the economy. Biden argued, though, that further assistance in the form of the infrastructure package his administration unveiled this week, was needed.
Yet many Republican lawmakers have already pointed to the burgeoning economy as evidence that further government support isn’t needed.
US affirms Ukraine support: President Joe Biden underscored U.S. support for Ukraine on Friday in his first call to that country’s leader following reports of Russian troop movements on its eastern border.
Biden in his conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy affirmed “unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression,” according to a statement from the White House.
The United States and Ukraine say Russia is escalating tensions in eastern Ukraine, where Russiabacked separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014. Russia denies having a military presence there.
Zelenskiy said in a tweet after the call that Ukraine and the United States “stand shoulder to shoulder when it comes to preservation of our democracies.” He called the partnership with Americans “crucial” for Ukrainians.
Myanmar cuts internet:
Myanmar’s wireless broadband internet services were shut down Friday by order of the military, local providers said, as protesters continued to defy the threat of lethal violence to oppose the junta’s takeover.
A directive from the
Ministry of Transport and Communications on Thursday instructed that “all wireless broadband data services be temporarily suspended until further notice,” according to a statement posted online by local provider Ooredoo.
After weeks of overnight cutoffs of internet access, the military on Friday shut all links apart from those using fiber-optic cable, which was working at drastically reduced speeds. Access to mobile networks and all wireless — the less costly options used by most people — was blocked.
The government has shut down all but a handful of fully military-controlled media outlets. Some of those banned or whose operations have been suspended have continued to publish via social media or whatever methods they can find.
7 officers fired in Texas:
Seven officers involved in the in-custody death of a Black jail inmate in Texas
whose family members say may have been suffering a mental health crisis have been fired, a sheriff said.
The detention officers violated sheriff ’s office policies and procedures leading up to the death of Marvin Scott III, Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner said in a news release Thursday. An eighth officer resigned. The names and races of the officers haven’t been released.
Scott, 26, was arrested March 14 at an outlet mall in Allen on a charge of possessing less than two ounces of marijuana, authorities have said. Allen officers took Scott to a hospital because he was reportedly acting erratically. Scott was released and police took him to the county jail.
While at the jail, Scott began to exhibit “some strange behavior,” Skinner said at a March 19 news conference. Detention officers placed Scott on a restraint bed, used pepper spray and covered his face with a spit mask.
Scott became unresponsive at some point and later was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The Collin County medical examiner’s office has not yet released a cause of death for Scott.
Michigan censures regent:
The University of Michigan’s governing board on Friday censured a Republican regent who called the state’s female Democratic leaders “witches” whom the GOP would prepare for a “burning at the stake” in the 2022 election.
Ron Weiser, who chairs the Michigan Republican Party, said he took “full responsibility” for his “poorly chosen words” but said he would not quit.
“I pledge to be part of a respectful dialogue going forward and challenge my colleagues and others to do the same. I will not be canceled,” he said during a virtual meeting.
Regents said they had no legal authority to remove
Weiser because he was elected by the public. But they said he should step down because his “violent, sexist” language had endangered the lives of state and federal elected officials and brought the school negative attention.
Court fines Twitter: A court in Moscow on Friday fined Twitter for not taking down calls encouraging minors to take part in unauthorized rallies, the latest in a series of moves against the social media giant that has been used to amplify dissent in Russia.
The court found Twitter guilty on three counts of violating regulations on restricting unlawful content, ordering the company to pay three fines adding up to about $117,000.
The ruling comes two weeks after Russia’s state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor threatened to block Twitter within 30 days if it doesn’t take steps to remove banned content.