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U.S. employers added 678,000 workers in February, the largest one-month gain since last August, dropping the unemployment rate to 3.8 percent from 4 percent in January, the labor department reported.
The jobless rate is approaching half of the 6.2 percent notched a year ago and is barely a quarter of the COVID War’s peak of 14.7 percent in April 2020.
Unemployment had marked a 50-year low of 3.5 percent just before the COVID virus appeared.
More than 300,000 new workers entered the labor force, and the number who said they were unable to work due to COVID-related causes fell by 1.8 million from January.
The labor force participation rate—the number of available workers with, or seeking, jobs—crept up to 62.3 from 62.2 in January, but still was 1.1 percentage points below pre-COVID levels.
Many older workers retired early during the COVID War, causing some analysts to doubt that the U.S. workforce will regain its former strength any time soon.
The growth in wages eased (see related story in this issue), indicating that employers may be having less trouble attracting workers and that the labor market is leaving COVID behind, The Wall Street Journal said.
The average hourly wage grew by a penny last month, following five consecutive months in which it added at least a dime, the WSJ found.
Although wages fell in education, health care, and manufacturing, workers overall earned 5.1 percent more last month than in February 2021.
However, inflation in February ran at 7 percent, leaving American workers with less income to spend despite rising wages and salaries. And now, with the unprecedented spikes of inflation, the wage-to-inflation factor will worsen.
The jobless rate among Black workers edged down 0.3 percent to 6.6 percent. Hispanic unemployment shrank 0.5 percent to 4.4 percent. Joblessness among workers lacking a high-school diploma fell to 4.3 percent, the lowest since at least 1992, the WSJ said.
Although the U.S. economy has added three million jobs since October, the labor market still is 2.1 million jobs, or 1.4 percent, smaller than in February 2020.
Hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, and the hospitality industry in general led in numbers of new jobs as the number of business and vacation travelers grew.
TREND FORECAST: Employment numbers were collected in mid-February, before Russia attacked Ukraine, and do not reflect any impact the war might be having on the U.S. jobs market.
With the COVID War winding down, as we have forecast, there will be an increase in consumer spending across a variety of spectrums, including hospitality, travel, conventions, trade shows, restaurants, and entertainment sectors.
Therefore, job growth was expected to continue to rise. However, with inflation ramping up at historical levels, and fears of escalating war in Europe… with Dragflation on the horizon, job growth will decline.