The US economy added 431,000 jobs in March, the Department of Labor reported this Friday, among other signs that show a recovery due to the drop in coronavirus cases and the relaxation of restrictions.
The explosion of new jobs last month is not yet fully reflected in the unemployment rate, which was at 3.6%, just below the 3.8% recorded in February, the report said.
"It's about the virus, the virus, and the virus, and the pressure of the virus on the American psyche seems to have loosened and we may be moving toward
the idea that the 'Covid era' of the American economy is over
, "
Austan Goolsbee, a professor at the University of Chicago and chairman of former President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, told The New York Times.
Employment has been boosted, experts say, by a surge in job seekers and higher consumption.
Improvements in sales and wages, however, could be overshadowed by inflation.
Job supply and the number of workers voluntarily leaving their jobs also remain near record levels.
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The US economy has created more than 400,000 jobs each month for nearly a year, defying the pandemic and supply chain disruptions.
And despite rising inflation, the hiring spree continued last month in the face of another shock: Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has destabilized the economic outlook and sent gasoline prices skyrocketing to record highs.
The rise of the American labor market
It reflects a strong rebound from the brief but devastating coronavirus recession
,
which eliminated 22 million jobs in March and April 2020 as businesses closed or cut hours and Americans stayed home to avoid contagion.
According to the latest report,
90% of those jobs lost in the pandemic have already been recovered
.
But the recovery has been quick.
Fueled by federal aid, savings accumulated during the pandemic, and ultra-low interest rates engineered by the Federal Reserve, American consumers have spent so fast that many factories, warehouses, shipping companies, and ports have been unable to keep up with demand. of your customers.
Supply chains have stalled, forcing prices up.
As the pandemic has subsided, consumers have been expanding their spending from goods to services, such as health care, travel and entertainment, which they had avoided during the worst of the pandemic.
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The result: Inflation is reaching 40-year highs, straining many low-income households facing sharp increases in necessities like food, gas and rent.
It is not clear that the economy can maintain last year's momentum.
Government relief checks have disappeared.
In addition, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark short-term interest rate two weeks ago and will probably continue to raise it well into next year.
These rate hikes will translate into more expensive loans for many consumers and businesses.
Pressured by inflation, some consumers are cutting back on spending.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that consumer spending rose just 0.2% in February — and fell 0.4% if adjusted for inflation — compared with a 2.7% rise in January.
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“We continue to see a very tight job market,”
said Karen Fichuk, CEO of the recruitment company Randstad North America, noting that the United States now has a record 1.7 job openings for every unemployed person.
Still, so many jobs were lost in 2020 that the economy is still more than 2 million away from where it was just before the pandemic.
In the past year, employers have added an average of 556,000 jobs per month.
At that rate — which is not guaranteed to continue — the nation would regain all the jobs lost to the pandemic in June.
That still wouldn't include all the additional hires that would have been made in the last two years under normal circumstances.