US economy creates 916,000 jobs in March as hopes of recovery grow



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The U.S. economy created 916,000 jobs in March and the unemployment rate fell to 6%, a sign that the recovery was picking up speed the month Joe Biden enacted his $ 1.9 billion stimulus bill.

Non-farm payroll data released Friday exceeded economists’ expectations and marked a marked improvement from the revised upward 468,000 jobs created in February and 233,000 jobs created in January.

The improving job market has come amid optimism about the United States’ fight against the pandemic, as the winter spike in infections has subsided and the vaccination rate has risen sharply.

In recent weeks, Covid-19 cases have started to increase again but the rate of inoculation has continued to increase, giving hope for further improvement in the coming months.

Job gains in March were not only larger than in previous months, but more generally. Hiring in the leisure and hospitality sector, which was particularly sensitive to the vagaries of the pandemic but which led to job gains last month, rose from a pace of 384,000 to 280,000 .

But employment in the production of goods, including manufacturing and construction, rebounded strongly, from 44,000 jobs lost in February to a gain of 183,000 last month. Government hires soared to 136,000 after cutting 90,000 jobs in February.

The stronger recovery has led investors to sell long-term US Treasury debt in recent months, pushing 10-year yields to over 1.7%. But Federal Reserve officials have expressed no concerns about rising borrowing costs or even the likely surge in inflation this year, saying it is likely to be transitory.

Long-term US government bonds, which recently posted the worst quarterly performance since 1980, fell after the report was released.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasuries climbed 0.03 percentage point to 1.7 percent in morning trading in New York, a far cry from the 14-month high of 1.78 percent reached over early this week.

Five- and seven-year Treasuries also came under pressure, raising yields by about 0.04 percentage points. The five-year rating is now hovering around 0.94 percent, while the 7-year rating is trading around 1.40 percent.

The main world stock exchanges, including the American indices, are closed for the Easter weekend.

The strength of the jobs report was amplified by the unemployment rate falling from 6.2% to 6% as more Americans found jobs and more looked for jobs, with the U.S. labor force increasing by 347 000 people.

“The [rebound] still leaves employment 8.4 million below its prepandemic peak of just over a year ago, but, with the vaccination program likely to reach critical mass in the coming months and cycle stimulus package providing light at the end of the tunnel, ”said Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics.

Brian Levitt, global market strategist at Invesco, said the report was “a confirmation of what we are all starting to see a few months ago, which is that the economy is accelerating and vaccine deployment is changing the world. given”.

“You also add tax support [with] a lot of money should be deployed. . . and as a result, you see companies hiring to meet current demand and meet future demand. “

However, Levitt warned that there were still millions of Americans out of work.

“We are coming out of a disastrous result,” he said. “The labor market has even more leeway to heal. For the Federal Reserve, they don’t see this as close to full employment. ”

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