The U.S. economy added 916,000 jobs last month, as coronavirus vaccine distribution improved, Congress approved a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, and states across the country lifted restrictions on businesses.
The unemployment rate edged down to 6 percent from 6.2 percent in February, according to the monthly report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The report comes a year after the pandemic threw the U.S. economy into a tailspin.
The labor market recovered about 12 million of the 22 million jobs lost in the first two months of the pandemic by October. But the pace of the recovery had slowed drastically by then, and it churned sluggishly through winter as the virus surged through the holidays and into the New Year.
The March data — showing the largest number of jobs added since August and the third-straight month of growth — may signal a turning point. The survey was taken the week of March 12th, the same week that the stimulus package passed by Democratic majorities in the House and Senate was signed into law by President Biden.
I don’t know about you, but I’m really looking forward to a little “happy days are here again” feeling.
If people will just hang on a little bit longer, we might just be able to avoid a whole lot more deaths over the next few months and then have a very good year. Fingers crossed.
But it’s not over yet: