[Jiangsu News Network Comprehensive News] The U.S. Department of Labor announced on the 5th that the non-agricultural employment population increased by 379,000 in February, and the unemployment rate dropped from 6.3% to 6.2%. The COVID-19 pandemic has eased, and the labor market has added momentum with the relaxation of epidemic prevention restrictions, but it is still far from complete recovery.
The picture shows people waiting in line outside the Kentucky Job Search Center before opening on June 18, 2020. (Photo source: Reuters)
00 employed people increased by nearly 380,000 in February
Central News Agency reported that this report, which was better than market expectations, showed that the new employment population in January was revised up from the original 49,000 announced to 166,000, reflecting that the labor market shrank by the winter epidemic in December last year and was only a temporary setback.
However, from March to April last year, more than 22 million people were employed in the United States due to the infectious disease pandemic. After 10 months of hard recovery, the overall employment population is still 9.5 million less than before the outbreak of the epidemic in February last year.
Data from the Ministry of Labor shows that in February this year, employment in the catering and tourism industry grew the most vigorously, with the number of employed people soaring by 355,000, and about 80% were concentrated in catering places that were deeply affected by epidemic prevention restrictions. Employment in industries such as retail, manufacturing and medical care has grown simultaneously, while employment in public education and construction industries has declined.
Affected by the ice and snow disaster in late February, the number of people employed in the construction industry in the United States decreased by 61,000 in February. In addition, state and local education departments reduced 69,000 jobs that month, basically offsetting the increase in January. The Labor Department said the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the normal seasonal employment model of the U.S. education industry, increasing employment uncertainty in the industry.
analysis said that the number of employment in the US leisure and hotel industry still decreased by 3.5 million year-on-year, but as states continue to relax epidemic restrictions, the relevant employment situation is expected to continue to improve.
The U.S. economy is strengthening
According to China News Service, the Associated Press believes that the employment data in February showed that the U.S. economy is strengthening as the number of new confirmed cases declines, consumer spending increases and states relax business restrictions.
《Wall Street Journal 》 analyzed that the US job market and overall economy have improved in recent weeks. Factors such as lifting business restrictions, accelerating vaccination and a decline in confirmed cases have promoted the recruitment intention of American companies. As the spring catering, sports and performances gradually recover, the U.S. job market is expected to continue to recover.
The United States launched a large-scale COVID-19 vaccination project nearly three months ago. The epidemic has cooled down significantly recently. Many signs show that the labor market and the overall economy are gradually getting rid of the quagmire of winter.
The number of people applying for unemployment for the first time in the past two weeks has remained below 800,000, the lowest in the past three months. But this data is still higher than all the period before the outbreak of World War II and more than three times the level before the outbreak.
In addition, the U.S. unemployment rate in February was much lower than the record-breaking 14.8% in April last year, partly because millions of people left the workforce without actively seeking jobs after they were unemployed. The labor participation rate remained 61.4% in February this year, 1.9 percentage points lower than a year ago.
Federal Preparation Council (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell said at the Wall Street Journal event that it will take some time for the United States to resume full employment and that it is "very unlikely" to achieve the goal that the Federal Reserve is committed to achieving this year.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted in February that the labor market will not be fully recovered from the loss of land during the epidemic until 2024.
The federal government has invested trillions of dollars to support the economy after the outbreak of the epidemic. President Biden actively promotes an additional revitalization plan of $1.9 trillion to help people and businesses overcome difficulties in the next few months. The bill was sent to the Senate last weekend. In order to speed up the breakthrough, the ruling Democrats agreed to cancel the hike and limit the target of revitalizing checks.
More than 2750 people were infected with new coronary pneumonia mutant virus
Although the epidemic has eased, the new coronary mutant virus is still widely spread in the United States. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that as of the evening of the 4th, there were at least 2,753 cases of infection with the new coronavirus mutant virus in the United States, including three variant viruses found in the UK, South Africa and and in Brazil.
Mainland CCTV News reported that among these cases, 2672 of the infection sources came from the new coronavirus mutant virus B.1.1.7 found in the UK.Currently, infection cases have been found in more than 40 states in the United States, Puerto Rico and Washington DC . Florida is the state that has the largest number of cases of infections found in B.1.1.7, with about a quarter of cases coming from Florida.
In addition, 16 states in the United States and Washington, DC have reported a total of 68 cases of infection with the new coronavirus variant B.1.351 that was originally found in South Africa. The infection cases of the mutant virus P.1 that was originally discovered in Brazil have been found in a total of 13 cases in seven states in the United States.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the released data does not represent the total number of people infected with the new coronavirus mutant virus in the United States, but only cases found by analyzing positive samples, and the actual number of people infected may be greater. (End)
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