The economy added 379,000 jobs in February and unemployment ticked down to 6.2%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, as the pandemic receded and commerce revived faster than projected.
Forecasters had anticipated fewer than 200,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs.
“In the coming weeks and months, as weather improves across the country, businesses welcome back more customers, and more vaccinations are administered, we should see a more substantial pick-up in hiring,” said Bankrate.com’s senior economic analyst Mark Hamrick.
Friday’s report adds to the evidence that the economy is poised for strong bounce-back growth this year. Many households are flush with savings from successive rounds of federal relief and poised to begin spending as the vaccination campaign advances. The Congressional Budget Office expects the strongest growth in 17 years.
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Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is promising to maintain the central bank’s easy-money policies as President Biden and congressional Democrats line up a $1.9 trillion spending bill. Some economists warn that the result could be excessive inflation.
Still, employment remains far below its pre-pandemic levels, down 9.5 million altogether. Businesses that involve gathering groups, such as restaurants, bars, and theaters, face an especially rocky path back to health.
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The recovery has begun, though. Employment in leisure and hospitality increased by 355,000 in February as restrictions eased in many places. Restaurants and bars were hammered in the winter by the combination of pandemic shutdowns and cold weather. Still, that increase is only about a tenth of the number of those jobs lost in the pandemic.
